MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Weekend MMA Storylines | Nate Diaz vs. Jake Paul? | Fury vs. Ngannou | Ep 314

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

On episode 314 of Morning Kombat Luke and Brian discuss the biggest storylines heading into UFC on ESPN 38, Bellator 282 and PFL. The boys also discuss Nate Diaz's tweet calling for the UFC to release him and let him go fight Jake Paul. What's the most likely scenario? The boys close out the main topics with some quick hitters and get into HYSTS and Fan Submissions. (12:29) - BC's Weekend Reaction (28:30) - UFC Vegas 57 (42:15) - Weekend MMA Storylines (62:40) - Nate Diaz vs. Jake Paul? (78:30) - Bob Arum on Fury vs. Ngannou (85:00) - Quick Hitters (92:00) - HYSTS Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Reveille, Reveille, dogs 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 Back in the saddle again here on this Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022. That's a lot of twos, 22 twos. Hi, everyone. My name is Luke Thomas. I am merely one half of your hosting duo joined by the returning king of Connecticut himself, my friend and yours, the beige one. He calls himself a bunch of names that don't make sense given who he is, but hey, who cares?

Who's fact-checking around here? It'srian campbell bc how are you doing son back in action luke refreshed from an incredible vacation in your your satay washington dc i know luke a lot of people are looking for the juicy details did we hang out did our family members get get along you know did we blow up each other's spot i mean you, how did it go? It didn't go, Luke. It didn't go at all. Unfortunately, my son caught ill the night before. Luke, I was faced with a difficult decision.

Potentially infect Columbia, the nation, or the District of Columbia? And I just want you to know I chose the latter, Luke, okay? Well, yes. I'm glad to hear you do that. Very quickly, tell us about your impressions of my city, but also everyone who lives in the United States. It's the capital. What did you think?

Look, this was a tremendous vacation staying down there. I believe they call it the District Wharf, Luke. Is that it? Is that what they call it? Just the wharf, yeah. Luke, this was great. Now, do I have negatives about your city? Yeah, the price price people's attitudes

separate from that luke this is a beautiful amazing historic fantastic city that i probably you know checked 150th of the boxes in terms of big ticket items i could have saw but um my family bounced back quickly from from being under the weather and uh we had a great time luke you know saw the hits. You know, dude, tell me if I'm wrong here, okay? I don't want to, you know, steer this podcast into the ditch here. But that National Mall, Luke, and there's no Spencer's Gifts, by the way. You know what I'm saying?

But that National Mall, Luke, there's almost, you know, and I don't get down on politics. You know that about me. There's almost like a sacred, spiritual feeling there when you're walking up and down it. I'm on the steps. There's Lincoln. I'm looking across. There's Jenny from Forrest Gump coming out of the water. It felt special, Luke. And I had a great time in your city.

I mean, dude, what a place, right? I can't believe I've never really been there outside of a few quick stop-throughs. Yeah. And the place he's talking about, for folks who don't't know it's basically the patch of grass or it's a little more than that between the senate building which is the capital and then the lincoln memorial it's everything in between which would include the washington monument and just tons of green space the world war ii fountain luke big big big ups to that yeah dookie had a big meltdown there one time because she wanted to swim in the water and we didn't let her and she howled and we had to

leave so that was a fun day but the point being is yeah it's a tremendous place i'm really glad you guys had a great time i do want to focus in on one thing though which was you said it was expensive now i do recall one person from connecticut telling me i was out of my mind for saying wow this place is really expensive like it's hard to get things affordably priced here and then you come down here and i got a barrage of texts being like, yo, this city is expensive as shit. Yes, it is, Brian. First of all, I live in suburban Connecticut, which ain't easy, right? I live in a poshy area.

I've done a lot of time, Luke. New York, Vegas, L.A. I know expensive shit. Dude, I didn't see any signs for an $85 85 haircut so i'm not letting you off that hook but i will say you can't do anything with two people that doesn't cost 50 get a coffee get an ice cream go to the you know i'm saying you there's nothing you can do in that city that isn't like here's another 50 here's another 50 and look why are people angry as shit in that city like people just have no dude i come from the tri-state no eye contact get about your business

lifestyle i thought i was entering at least the the barriers of the south dude that ain't the south that ain't shit there luke no you have to go to like middle virginia to start really feeling the south now when you say people were unfriendly were they unfriendly or were they just no selling your jokes which is it oh well they you know sold my entire family at every turn basically here's how i sum it up the the service workers of all different ages backgrounds varieties really make you feel like you're you're doing them a disservice by asking them to serve you in their job that's really the issue i have luke okay you know what i mean there might there might be some of that you can see where i get it from if that if that helps you at all but uh i am glad you had a great time i am glad you're refreshed and I'm glad you're back

on the show because we have a big show today, dude. We have to get to, let's see, we've got UFC Vegas this weekend, an insanely good card back to back off the other one. We also have a phenomenal Bellator card on Friday night. Plus we have to get some stuff to react to with you. So thumbs up on the video if you're watching. Hit subscribe if you're

on YouTube. If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, give us a nice review. We appreciate it when you do um you can reach the show at any time morningcombat at gmail.com we will have a have you seen this shit today bc's got one locked and loaded for us looking forward to seeing that but if you want to reach the show for any reason you can do so there obviously showtime.com is the label that pays showtime.com get a 30-day free trial if you like it you can keep it if not you can bounce you can watch bellator this weekend you can watch the old moose defend his title against Johnny Ebelin, which we'll talk about here a little bit later as well.

Hey, how about your interview with Danny Sabatello? Good shit, Luke. Dude, Sabatello is fucking hilarious because I asked him, so when you size up the opponent, what exactly are you looking for? He read it to me like an offensive coordinator telling me about, like, what plays worked in the game. He was like, yeah, you know, listen, upon doing research and looking at the tape, my biggest takeaway is he fucking sucks. And I was like, okay.

He basically was like, if you ain't down with that, then fuck you, too. I mean, he came at the fans, Luke. He was coming on, bro. I was into it. People can check that out, of course, along with your chat with Johnny Ebelin, youtube.com slash morningcombat. But, Luke, I hope we can sprinkle in some of this into Friday's show because Sabatello must see TV in all forms right now.

I mean, he's a big character, which I think actually Bellator really needs. But more than that, and this is real, that dude is a legit threat to win the whole tournament. I know a lot of folks may not believe that because he's kind of a loudmouth, but he can fight his ass off. He's very, very good. So we'll get to that a little bit later as well. I've got merch on, right? BC's got merch on. You can get some merch on morningcombat.store. morningcombat.store right now. Tons of good stuff. And BC, I do want to get to this before we get to our Athletic Greens read here. We need to promote our live show, not this Friday, but the following Friday

when we're in Las Vegas. So July 1st, if memory serves. July 1st, let's announce it now. 5 p.m. is about the rough start of it. It's basically going to be after the weigh-ins for UFC 276, and we have the location. We want you to put this in your calendar right now. Beer House. Beer House, 5 p.m. PT in Las Vegas, right after the weigh-ins. And you're asking, where's Beer House? Dude, a block from T-Mobile. You walk outside T-Mobile, you can throw a rock and hit Beer House. It's right there, right next to Park MGM and BC. Live show.

We're going to spin the wheel. We want everybody to come. Mark it in your calendars. It's that indoor outdoor restaurant slash bar. If you haven't seen it, that's connected to the New York, New York. You have to walk past it. If you're leaving T-Mobile arena and heading back to the strip.

So, you know, they got the big Jenga blocks outside all that bullshit, but inside there's even more bullshit. And that's Luke and BC going to make it look easy. Some special guests. We're going to react to all things Fight Week. We're going to do a lot of real weird shit stuff.

Probably, Luke, I mean, if Tui shows up, one, we'll bang. Two, I don't know. I could be drinking it out of someone's orifice, Luke. I don't know what's going to happen. So the only way to find out is Friday, 5 p.m. Pacific, International Fight Week. Be there, okay? Be there. Seriously.

And I know a lot of people, Luke, they're already saying, I got my travel ready. I want to be there. I want to be a live DM from Donk. Come on, bro. You know the saying, right? Are you coming on? Come the fuck on already.

There you go. 5 p.m. PT, 5 p.m. local time, right after the weigh-ins are over at t-mobile come see us at beer house you cannot miss it it's free to get in we're gonna have a good time a live mk showing you asked for it we're gonna give it to you last but not least bc before we get into all of today's topics i want to talk about ag1 now i know you were traveling in dc recently were you drinking your ag1 when you were on the road? I was. And I think it helped not only myself, but my entire family bounced back. Cause you know, on the road,

Luke, you can get a scratchy throat. You can get something going on here, but here's the deal at the end of the day, Luke, I love it. It doesn't taste super healthy as the mild tropical taste, but in terms of starting my day each morning, Luke, it makes me feel good. I don't do a lot of things that are good that make me feel good. Usually it's the bad things that make you feel good. This is a good thing, Luke, right? Am I wrong? No, no doubt about it. And as you indicated, it supports, let's see, gut health, immune health, aging, recovery, focus. You can take it with you on the go. You can have it at home. And BC, I love it. One scoop, done for the day. That's the best part. Yeah, I started my morning with it and I did it because it's lifestyle friendly luke so you know i'm on a diet that is basically a liver free diet you know what i'm saying you know live

free or die with my liver it's close to dying but here's the deal whether you're keto paleo vegan dairy free gluten free it contains less than one gram of sugar. There's no GMOs, no nasty chemicals, no artificial anything. And like I said, it still tastes pretty damn good. So let's go for it. All right. It certainly does. It costs less than $3 a day. You're investing in your health and it's cheaper than your cold brew habit. And taking AG is also a small micro habit with the big benefits that we're talking about. It's one thing you can do every single day to take great care of yourself. And don't just believe us. How about athletic greens right now having 7 000 or more five star reviews entrusted of course by the leading health experts we're talking tim ferris we're talking michael gervais brother

right now it's time to reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient daily nutrition especially heading into the flu and cold season just ask the bc family it's just one scoop in a cup of water every day. That's it. No need for a million different pills and supplements to look out for your health. Yeah, you're down with the green AG, Luke. Yeah, you know me. You know what I'm talking about? And to make it even easier, Athletic Greens right now going to give you,

the listener, the viewer, a free one year supply of immune supporting vitamin D and those five free travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athletic greens.com slash morning combat. And of course, you know,

that's with a K brother. Again, athletic greens.com slash morning combat as BC indicated with a K to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. All right, we've got our announcements out of the way. We got our recap out of the way, BC, let's do this. We're going to talk of the way. We got our recap out of the way, BC.

Let's do this. We're going to talk about Saryukin and Gamrot in just a second, but you were gone for Saturday's fights. I know you caught up with them. We didn't have a Monday show. We kind of used my post-fight show from the weekend as sort of a Monday filler. We also had a Max Holloway resume review, if you've not seen that yet. That is up, youtube.com slash morningcombat.

But, BC, two big main event results over the weekend I would love to quickly get your take on them we start with MMA Josh Emmett defeating Calvin Cater what's your biggest takeaway from that fight aside from the scoring being obviously pretty close look such an evenly matched fight we knew what we were going to get coming in for the most part they delivered that at the end of the day I think Luke this is one of those fights that if you watch it with the intent of proving that one of two should have won, you have a good chance of getting there. It was that close of a fight.

But, Luke, at the end of the day, I liked three rounds to two, what Josh Emmett did. And we talked coming into this fight, knowing the situation here. Zabit, unfortunately, the greatest featherweight of all time, time he's gone we know we're going to get max volk three coming up somebody whether it's yair rodriguez whether somebody's going to have to make a big statement to be next luke i wonder if josh emmett made this statement no it wasn't a stoppage it wasn't you know sort of this overwhelming one-sided fight but you rarely get that at this level i scored him the first three rounds i

thought cater came on in the end. I loved Cater's boxing, but Luke, to the letter of the law of damage, despite that cut on Emmett's eye that did become a factor, I just thought he landed the heavier blows throughout, particularly in those first three rounds, although I'm very aware that judges and a lot of the scorers at home did like Cater in round two. Some even liked him in round three, although most people gave him four definitely. Five was a little bit split. Look, I like the scoring three to two at the end of the day, and I think Emmitt has put

himself in a very good position knowing that window's small. He's not getting any younger. He's in his late 30s. But he has battle-tested like you wouldn't believe getting through a thriller with Burgos, now getting through a thriller with Cater. I think he's made a strong enough statement, and I like the commandeer of the microphone saying, Dana,

let's go, you know? I'm going to be there two weeks from now, cage side at International Fight Week. Find me my title opponent. Tell me if I'm wrong, Luke, but I think he's done enough to earn that. He's done enough to be in this conversation, unless Yair Rodriguez does some crazy, spitty shit and knocks out Ortega or whatever, right? He's on a nice run right now. Did you agree with me on that scoring, Luke? Because I did see

a lot of hullabaloo across the old Twitter machine. Yeah, I think a three to two scorecard either way is justified. It would depend, I guess, on what rounds you were scoring. One of the judges, I forgot which one did it, had the first three for Emmett, the last two for Cater. Sal D'Amato, Luke. Good old Sal. I think that's more or less where I lined up. I thought in real time the judges would give it to Cater.

Again, that's not necessarily saying how I saw it. I'm trying to also imagine how the judges might see it. I thought fourth and fifth, definitely Cater. First three, probably Emmett, but maybe cater steals one of those. But in the end, I agree with you. And I'll tell you something else. It's not very easy for a guy with a reach disadvantage to win on body work when the body work doesn't cripple the other guy, like he doesn't visibly fall over. And he, and Emmett had to do that. He had to really invest to the body so something of

a risky strategy in the sense of like you know it's it's not the same as popping someone's head back but he did it it was necessity driven because Cater's takedown defense was so on point so if you liked overall the flurrying of Cater the jab the the fact that visibly with the eye you did see a lot of damage again you're not going to argue with anybody who thought Cater have won that fight but luke i want to ask you a question i don't know if you hit this up in your post fight one because i was of course vacationing right net vision and national nationals baseball park luke that was a good night at the office right there right you never been there luke yeah damn right you know what i'm saying uh luke tyson charity put out a social media post that a lot of people are picking up on.

And MK viewer Lee James Borthwick, which really sounds like a tri-name future presidential assassin attempt type of Lee Harvey type deal on there. But Luke, he wanted me to specifically ask you on this show. The point of Chartier's social media post was he said he scored at 3-2 Cater, and if you look at the judges' scoring, if you scored each round based on the majority of the three judges, right? I know in the end it was a split decision because they saw it opposite ways, but if you looked at each round and took the majority of the three judges, this would have been a Cater victory. Do you think that's enough of a change to the scoring issues we have in MMA?

That that's more judicious? I thought even though I liked Emmett better, this was a very interesting statement. Because when you go back and look at those judges' scorecards, two of the three judges liked what Kader did in rounds two, four, and five. There might be something there, Luke. Do you like that idea? I don't hate it it just seems woefully irrelevant because we're not gonna do it um the one thing that stood out

to me bc was i do believe one of the judges gave emmet round four and that to me is the only one where i'm like i don't quite get that. That seemed to me a very clear round for Calvin cater and not for Josh Emmett. And so I can understand certain pockets going the wrong way. I think that's, that's again, not complaining three,

two Emmett, but I am complaining if one of the three is round four, that seems like just bad judging, but here's what this would fix. Luke, I want to jump back on you. I don't want you to punt this or whatever, right? You know what I'm saying? Luke, who was your favorite punter?

Pat McAfee? Is that your favorite punter of all time? No, Sebastian Genachowski. Oh, God, yes, because that guy, yeah, yeah, yeah, that guy's done some shit. Totally. Probably off of nude women. Yeah, absolutely. But he was a field goal kicker and not a punter, Luke, so you actually are dead wrong in motion right here the point is this what do we hate most about controversial

scoring typically in boxing right where sometimes we feel like that third judge is so one-sided in favor of the money fighter how many times do we see this luke over and over again where even when the right guy wins that third scorecard is like 118-110 Canelo, right? You know, and you're just like, what the fuck? Under this Tyson-Chardier explained dilemma, wouldn't that eliminate the outlier? Rather than doing, let's do five judges and then eliminate the outlier so we have the three scores, you can outright eliminate the outlier on a round-by-round basis if you pick this up now again i scored it for emmet doing it this way would score it for cater but again i don't have a

problem either way my point is in the larger picture wouldn't this consistently cancel out that disrupted third minority voice when it comes to judging especially since sometimes guys just miss it completely or maybe they're on the take. Who knows, Luke, right? We all have our suspicions. But wouldn't that eliminate that bullshit, Luke? I don't know if it'll eliminate that bullshit. I don't, like, having a dissenting card

or an outlier card is not by definition bad. In fact, it could be the only one that makes sense. So I don't know why you would want a system that would eliminate. I mean, I understand why Tyson Tardier might want it because he felt like his fighter was wrong, and I understand that. But that sword swings both ways. Like, having an outlier card, having something like that, we always think outlier means bad,

but it doesn't necessarily mean bad at all. In fact, it could mean the only one that's sane, and you got something else going on in the wrong direction the other way i would argue that you know we would have to test this more thoroughly to see exactly what kind of benefits or challenges it confers but my sense is yes in a situation like this you might get a more equitable result but as a practice i would be somewhat skeptical of it i'm just saying lee james borthwick the the bloke who slated my dms who apparently your Luke Thomas clips page follows on

Instagram, so he hasn't been blocked. Shout out to him. I just think, I kind of like this, Luke. I think that's the best way to eliminate the bullshit. I really believe. You're not going to fix everything. I just think in the long run, you're going to fix better these situations. Anyway, that doesn't matter. Luke Emmett, next title shot. Is it

dependent upon Yair or Ortega, who have bigger names, shining in a bright light come July 16th? Is it dependent upon that? I think it is. Yair is a guy who I'm sure the UFC, you know, they've had issues with him. They cut him for crying out loud, then brought him back and all that kind of stuff. But I do believe they would rather have him in a title picture than Josh Emmett if for no other reason well two reasons one he's younger and then two he obviously would have

a connection to the Mexican audience which they're always trying to grow and build that's very very important for them understandably Yair brings two of those major solutions that they want in somebody who's a sort of an interesting contender Josh Josh Emmett, I think, would be certainly... To me, it'd be a little bit more interesting to have Emmett fight one of these two guys. Obviously, Max already fought Yair, and I would be interested in seeing a Volkanovski-Yair fight. I think I told Aaron Bronstead of that,

but I think an Emmett fight would be really, really fun as well. So I think if that fight sucks or Ortega wins, then I think Emmett's going to get it. But I do think if Yair wins, and especially if he wins spectacularly, which is unlikely, but certainly possible, then they're going to go towards him. In Kader's favor, I'm sorry, in Emmitt's favor,

he's on a nice win streak right now. Those other guys are coming off of defeats, but they do have some pretty big names. It's going to be interesting. I don't know, Luke. I'm just starting to feel like Josh Emmitt's that motherfucker. He's that dude. He's good, dude.

I told you he's got the best tats in the game you've been up on his ubl upper bound limits for a long time so let me day one ish and give you that credit but he has earned it dude yeah right you know just grinding yeah and not just not just tough guys but like he's got he's overcome a lot of physical ailments even in this fight his face was turned into hamburger and he looked like shit when he was on michael bisping's podcast you know which i don't say like insultingly i mean he just was through a rough experience he has really sacrificed a lot to be here and so if he's getting big wins against legit guys and again a 3-2 scorecard for him is entirely justified if not the outright correct one you know you gotta you gotta start thinking what do we owe him i know

the ufc may not think of it that way but i do as a media guy and he might be owed one here depending on what happens i know what i owe him i owe him a spot on the room service diaries couch all right josh bring it let's go one more fight i wanted to ask you about over the weekend very quickly and we had kind of not like passed it over we talked about it on friday and i did think that Artur Baterbiev was going to win, but dude, he beat the fucking brakes off of Joe Smith Jr. I mean, it wasn't even close. That double uppercut he had, lead hand, rear hand, and then eventually just pushed him over. The referee had seen enough. Joe Smith didn't make it outside of two rounds.

And correct me if I'm wrong, BC, before this contest, he'd never even been knocked down. And Baterbiev went right through him like a buzzsaw what is your reaction it's not that we didn't think the ability levels between these two was wide we did but Luke we have to understand Baterbiev's 37 despite that colossal record of all knockouts last couple fights dude you know long layoffs he just didn't look like the killer anymore dude the killer's back and I think he's back because of the level of competition was an upgrade here. It was a unification bout. Joe Smith Jr., despite being originally like a union worker turned fighter, he's legitimate now.

His defense isn't bad. Yeah, he's a little awkward, but he's got a big right hand, Luke. We've seen him box rounds against better boxers and hang in there. Dude, he had nothing for a wired, fired up, ready to go Baturbiev. Luke, I don't know how long this window at 37 is going to last, but he really is back in full on destroyer mode. I didn't do it 49 times, right? Because it's a big joke, right? Ha ha. Right. There we go. But I did rewatch this a bunch of times this morning, the round and a half that they gave us. Dude, did you see the variety of Betterbeave?

Look, the last two fights, he wasn't walking down and chasing people. He was more waiting for them to come to him. I think he looked at the strategy here, saw Joe Smith, big right hand, but technically there's still some flaws. He's still that union worker turned pro fighter, right? I think he said, look, the best way I'm going to exploit those flaws is to get him into a fight and I've just got better technique and more variety. Luke, when I say variety, I don't just mean the ability to switch from a jab to an uppercut

to a hook to a body shot at any meaning. Each one of those punches, he almost has three to four different types, like a change up, a curve, a looping one. There's times where he comes with that right cross for the kill shot. There's other times where he loops it when he landed that first knockdown on the top of Joe Smith's head. He was constantly throwing different speeds, different angles, sidearms for a destroyer to almost become straight on with you,

walk you down to the ropes, have the defensive responsibility, yet still throw that much variety in a short space, Luke, when he's this dialed in, he would fuck Canelo up. Yeah, he would. Understand that, okay? Not the guy from two fights ago, the guy who came back from a one or two year layoff, whatever

it was. This dialed in version of Better Beave, nah, dude, nah. Luke, he may even do bad things to Beavol, and obviously Dimitri Beavol, who just Nah. Luke, he may even do bad things to B-Ball, and obviously, Dmitry B-Ball, who just beat Canelo, that's the fight we need now for all four belts, undisputed. The problem in boxing is Anthony Yard has the mandatory now for

Betterbeave. They just made a deal for that fight. It's gonna come later this year. Yard's a British slugger, Luke, but not much more. Remember Sergey Kovalev going life or death to edge him out to get the Canelo fight? We're not gonna learn a lot there. But the quicker we can get into a Dimitri Bivol, Artur Betterby fight for all four belts, two unbeaten guys.

We know Bivol's the crafty, cute puncher. But Betterby's the absolute destroyer. Luke, seriously, rewatch that tape of how he set those shots up. This dude's next level. He's next level. And the interesting part was I would actually, I 90% agree with you. I would 10% disagree with you,

but like only to compliment the point, which is to say the following. There were two times he dropped Smith in, one was in the first, one was in the second, or rocked him or the referee intervened where he actually backed up on purpose. So he was walking him down and then just drilling him. But there were a couple of times where he let Smith come to him

and still dropped his ass. What do we say about pitchers in baseball when they can, to your point, when they have a changeup and a curve and a slider and a breaking ball? We say they have good stuff. Dude, Betterbeave just has good stuff. He has so many tools to go to, so many ranges, because this is the point.

Like, oh, well, if he fights at long range, Joe Smith can crack him. Well, he never let Joe Smith really ever do that by virtue of some of the ways in which he was inviting pressure or then delivering it and then all the different trajectories all the different openings they interviewed him did you see the interview afterwards and they asked him like you know what was the strategy here and he was like ah he didn't want to insult the guy but he was was like, yeah, he was really open, so I just looked for the openings. Like, dude, he just saw all the various windows that had been slid open and was just finding all different ways to get in there. Dude, Joe Smith was completely overmatched. That was a beating.

If you're new to Better Beave, I mean, when he fought Alexander Vodcik to unify titles, they were both unbeaten. That was about three fights ago. Dude, he sent Vodcik into retirement, Luke. And that was a guy who was in his prime, almost knocking on, like, pound for pound attention, you know? And he just absolutely wore him down and took care of him. The fact that he saw, like you said, an avenue to make this a quick outing against Joe Smith because that technique, you know, was a wide gap between them. Damn, dude. Damn.

Look, I don't know if I've ever seen a guy who's this old, yet is 18 and 0 with 18 first round KOs, and even though he's got 3, 4, 5 really good wins there, still kind of underexposed. It's going to be fun to see how long he can carry this on because

big fights await. B-Vol, maybe Canelo. I mean, this is going to be fun to see how long he can carry this on because big fights await b-ball maybe canelo i mean this is going to be fun to see but when you watch him from footwork to set up dude he's just different and that's that's the shout out to mark ramsey's trainer he's got russ amber on cuts he's got ice man john scully from connecticut as his chief second they know what the hell they're doing there this guy is damn still got it still got it still got it 100 finishing record among champions. It's pretty fucking special. And that was a unification, too. He has three of the four belts.

Bivol has the other one. I mean, it's not like he was fighting a chump. He just made the guy look like a completely lower level. So amazing for him. All right, BC, let's turn the page here if we can. What a weekend of fights we have coming up. Not a UFC pay-per-view. That'll be the following Saturday.

But quality fights just the same. UFC Austin was phenomenal, and UFC on ESPN 38 or Vegas 57, whichever number it is at this point, is also very, very good. I want to go through this, but very quickly, we start with the main event. Armin Saryuki and taking on Mateus Gamrot. Now, BC, they're ranked 11 and 12 respectively. Armin at 11th, Gamrot at 12. You would imagine that the winner here moves into the top 10. But the thing that I love about this fight the most is not just that they are very good and very exciting. And I know a lot of folks don't like it for this reason, but I actually really like it when young contenders have to face off against one another to see who's really coming or going. Because to me, the one who loses is not gone forever. They can rally and have a second or third effort in their careers and then get to the

same kind of point. We've seen it a number of times. But this is going to be a big decider into very promising careers about who is going to be potentially maybe a title contender in the future, but someone who's really going to be entering that elite space, that top 10 space. I think Armin Saryukian is one of the best up-and-comers in all of MMA. Do you agree with my assessment that this is more than just about rankings? This is a bit of a fork in the road, at least for this juncture in their career.

Absolutely. I love this type of matchmaking. It's hungry, aggressive. We have two guys that one could be the future. Let's find out, right? It's Ryan Bader versus Jon Jones back when they were both, you know, largely untested up to that point. Let's find it out right the hell now.

But Luke, I think something that I've said it before, I'll say it once more, right? Knew you would make me feel so good. Want to do you right. I mean, look, that's the best 311 song. It really is. All right. Don't, you know, people forget.

You've never even heard their first record, you know? All right. Back to this. Luke, we said it before about this lightweight division two years ago i thought historically deep and even though now it's been passed by bantamweight on a global level but certainly within the ufc for depth star power etc dude it is transitioning very nicely from the older guard the fergusons the the mcgreg, even Poirier, even RDA, who are sort of slowly starting to transition out.

Now we've got Islam Mahachev, Brad Riddell, and really both of these guys, including the winner who's going to launch into the top ten, as you mentioned. It's among the least household name sexy fight night main events, but it's sort of one of those where I think you're guaranteed to see two hammers try to figure out which one is actually the nail underneath it luke how do you even not not break it down x's and o's but like if i knew nothing about these two what should i be looking for in this one i think this is going to be a real question of who wait we'll talk more about this on friday but as a basic overview, both are very exceptional wrestlers. I mean, both can do a lot of it now, but I really wonder who is going to dictate the wrestling battle,

which is to say this is not meaning, oh, whoever gets the takedown. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is who is the dominant wrestler in the sense of when I want to take you down, I can, and when I want to defend, I can, because both guys have very good offensive takedowns. Mateus Gamrat lost to Guram Kutateladze, who fought over the weekend, in part because Kutateladze did get taken down a lot,

but was fighting a lot off of his back. That's not really Saryukin's game that we've seen. So it's going to be a much bigger question of who can either establish the takedown, defend it, or immediately win scrambles. And then, if that's the case, obviously there's going to be a question of who can either establish the takedown defend it or immediately win scrambles and then if that's the case obviously there's gonna be a question of who can win on the feet but they're very evenly matched they have a lot of the same skill sets the question is going to be who gets to put their thumb on the scale when it comes to having the better wrestling

um either defensively or offensively to decide how that fight's going to go within that dimension luke does the winner of this you you know, I like to talk, I don't have my hammer with me right now, my Russian hammer, Luke. And by the way, when we're talking about Baterbiev from Dagestan, although he lives and fights out of Montreal these days, but when we're talking about that list across mixed martial arts, you know, it includes Bellator, it includes PFL, the hammers are coming on.

Does the winner of this get added to that list of you know eastern european-based hammers who seem to be ready to take over the sport yeah i mean uh saryukian is armenian russian so you know these are these are these we kind of group them all as like oh these are just tough dudes from mountainous regions who speak slavic languages but there are meaningful differences between them. But yes, to your point, these are like, it's interesting, right? Like Georgia, Iran, we won't have many Iranians, but like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, obviously parts of Dagestan and whatnot, that whole region there, you get different religions, different peoples, different languages,

but they're all kind of good at like wrestling, Olympic weightlifting, these real kind of like masculine sports. There'd be no good reason why they wouldn't equally be adept at these kinds of sports as well. And so you're beginning to see that flow from, yes, very similar parts of the world, but meaningfully different in many ways, too. I just think it's an inevitability that, you know, you're going to see this and then more i think gamrot's polish though of memory serves right so that's a little bit different but um but yeah but certainly our sorry you can would be part of that larger ilk i think of what you see you see a lot of those same guys good in boxing as well dude there's a lot i mean victor chinian all the armenian crews they're armenians is 31 from poland i was unaware of that but it still fits the larger territory there in Europe

of what's going on. But, Luke, particularly Saryukian, dude, five in a row since that loss to Mahachev in a similar type of matchmaking, although much earlier than this one. But, Luke, he kind of looks like you. Now that you're in shape, you guys do resemble each other. I mean, there's that Armenian power, right?

You look very Armenian today is what I'm saying. And I say that as a compliment. I don't know that I take it as one. Also, I look more like Saryukian's hirsute uncle than I do his twin. But yeah, he's in incredible shape. This is going to be a hell of a fight. But speaking of guys from that region, BC, whether you like the main event or not,

the co-main event, I don't know how you can't. Neil Magny, by the way, give Neil Magny credit. This guy has been asking for the smoke from, what's his face? Bores, what's his name? Hamza Chammayev? Yes, Chermayev. He's been asking to fight Chermayev. He's been asking to fight Hammers.

Well, careful what you wish for, because he got one. Neil Magny is going to take on Shavkat Rachmanov in what is easily, easily, easily the biggest test of Rachmanov's career. Because he has looked, and you would agree, BC, he has looked very, very good, but he's not fought anybody this experienced, anybody this talented, anybody this talented, anybody who's got an interesting frame in the way that Magny does. What a fight in either

direction. What a win it would be in either direction. Absolutely. And on top of that, this isn't a Magny who's only made his name on being the guy who fights the people that no one wants to. He's won five of six coming in here, Luke, and that only lost a decision that went the wrong way against Chiesa, and he was competitive like he always is in all of these fights. 31 years old, you could argue is putting together the best sort of run that we've seen up to this point, but look, I have no misgivings here. If an alien would walk off a ship tomorrow and put on a singlet and no one wants to fight him, Mil Magni's going to fight that

alien, Luke. So he is that dude. He's that difficult out. He's got that cardio. But damn, we're going to find out right now how good your boy Shavkat Rachmanov is. And damn, has he looked really good. In fact, Luke, that list of hammers that we're talking about, I mean, you can't put him above

Mahachev right now, but he's pretty damn high up there, Luke. He's coming the hell on, Luke. He looks to be good. This is that durable, not easy to contend with type of opponent where we're really going to find out what Shavkat's plan B, C, D are because, you know, Neil Magny

makes you do that. So yeah, Luke, this could be the main event. It could. It could be, dude. I'm telling you now, like, the people who are around Shavkat Raghmanov, they've all privately reached out to me about it, and they all say that he is as good as anyone in the gym and usually the best by far. And he's only shown a small smidge of what he's capable of.

Now, again, Neil Magny is no one's pushover. This is a very difficult test. Funnily enough, Caesars has Rachmanov. Even I am surprised by this and I'm very high on Rachmanov. They have Shavkat. Shavkat Rachmanov has a minus 400 favorite

in this contest. Little high for me if you're asking, but just the same. We all talk about Chamaev and what he's done and he's just exploded through the ranks.

Had a bit of a come to earth moment against Gilbert Burns but still got the job done fighting very undisciplined, but still getting his hand raised. Rachmanov is taking a much different approach, much slower, steadier, kind of, I'm going to build the quote-unquote right way to get there.

I'm telling you, we'll see what happens on Saturday. But if he makes, not short work, but if he really shines against Magny, it's not just that there's a meeting between Shavkat Rachmanov and Chumayev headed down the line, if he really shines against Magny, it's not just that there's a meeting between Shavkat Rachmanov and Chemaev headed down the line, it's that Rachmanov might have actually been the guy who, because of his development process,

gets to the point where he needs to be in the right way, even though he got there a little bit slower, versus Chemaev. Something to think about. Yeah, good news for the Walter White division if that happens. I mean, dude, if he systematically breaks down Magny like the way you're sort of teasing here, that's a statement.

So that's going to be worth watching. Just the same, what if that gas tank looks a little pulled on come late round three? This is in play here against Magny, so we'll see what happens. Luke, I can't help but look up and down this card and see Flyweight JP Bays back on after the very public breakup there with Cheyenne Vlismas. Big win for Roman DeLidze on Saturday, just the same, if you want to link the conversation together. But you're not into the idea of a catch-weight bout between them for the,

you know, for like, talk about a money in the bank briefcase there, Luke, for the winner, no? Nothing? Okay. Also on this card. I guess I'm alone. I guess I'm alone on there, Luke, for the winner. No? Nothing? Okay. Also on this card. I guess I'm alone. I guess I'm alone on this, Luke. You know what I mean?

You are certainly alone. There are other good fights on the card. The JP Bayes fight. Cody Durden is a fine fight. But I would also point out, BC, on this one, Chris Curtis taking on Adolfo Vieira. Vieira kind of needs to figure out if he's going to do something at this level or not. Obviously, he can beat some people.

But are you really going to rise to the round are you going to be a jacare are you going to be a hadra gracie when it comes to mma we haven't quite figured that out yet also nate maness a phenomenal grappler taking on umar number made off he's the biggest favorite on the card number made off at a minus 900 over nate maness that is uh you don't usually see that in the uf UFC too often, but here you have it as well. Can I give you my BC super sloppy special of the week on this card, Luke? Let me guess, it involves the women because you're a horndog or what? Not true, Luke, not true.

First of all, shout out to Brian Boomkelleher, friend of the program and the extended MMA beat family, who is back against Mario Bautista at Bantamweight. But, Luke, the opener, women's strawweight, Vanessa Dimopoulos, who, look, made a lot of headlines with the pole dancing training in the background for her last big win, jumping in D.C.'s arms, or Rogan's arms, excuse me, you know, even though he was dressed like a busboy at a restaurant.

Taking on Jin Yu Fry here, who's riding a two-fight win streak. Look, both, Fry's 37, both need a big win here, but this Demopolis hype train that she's you know, poured the coal herself to get this thing going. Let's see if she can continue it. Look, you don't like these undercard, like freak shows would be a very

not correct word. Yeah, it's not a freak show fight at all. These are professional fighters climbing the rankings, no question about it. But when somebody uses sort of the outside the cage like the post fight interview to become like oh crap i kind of need to see them more you can't deny me that demopolis has become that am i right luke um not in my world i mean i certainly respect her as a fighter i don't mean to suggest that she hasn't done that yet but i am not scrolling i don't have your instagram feed so i couldn't speak to you it's not not it's not even like remotely about that i guess that that's that's low fruit for you it's a it's a

easy fallback it's an assumption that most of our audience have it's a it's a it's a fight that matters it certainly matters for their careers in the way that you say it does i certainly agree but it's literally opening the card i i don't want to overstate its significance either okay okay all i know luke is this is the same week that we're getting the rematch between uh opening the card, I don't want to overstate its significance either. Okay. All I know, Luke, is this is the same week that we're getting the rematch between Britton Beltran and Beck Rawlings on BKFC. So look, I get into

personalities, Luke, and there's a lot of personalities behind these fights. So there you go. By the way, also, Izzy's guy, the city kickboxing, Carlos Olberg, taking on, and I'm going to mispronounce it, so please forgive me, Tafon Nchukwi, is that how you say it? Tafon is actually from this area, Camp Springs, Maryland.

He trains over at Team Lloyd Irvin. He's looked really good. He's been a phenomenally heavy puncher. He's got overall well-rounded skills. It's an interesting test. I think if he can find Olberg's chin, who is quite hittable, it's winnable, but they do have do have olberg as a slight favorite minus 122 uh plus 100 another one to keep an eye on also hallie on piva taking on sergey morozov and some other ones there as well would you say carlos olberg is the best looking male fighter in mma today look would you say that oh by a country mile right yeah there you go there

you go he's got that going for him we'll see if he can continue he is handsome i mean no one's ever accused him of being ugly i can i can certainly attest to that uh bc i will say this bellator's got a card friday night on showtime from the mohegan sun i believe it will kick off at 9 p.m in the east dude this is a good card from bellator and we always say it if the cards are good we're gonna say if the cards are bad we're gonna say it this is a good one there's a few fights to watch let's start with that main event here very quickly if we can. Gegard Mousasi taking on Johnny Ebelin. Now BC, let's revisit this. I thought Austin, I had a hipster pick and it exploded in my face like Elmer Fudd holding the bomb or something that Bugs Bunny gave to him. Fair enough. I just want to point out something here. One,

the odds makers agree with me a little bit that this fight deserves to be treated as a little bit more serious than I think Musashi's online fans would like you to believe. They have Eblen as a underdog, plus 210. Musashi as a minus 260. But this is not some minus 400, minus 500 fight. Eblen is undefeated. He wrestled at the University of Missouri alongside, well, not at the same time, but from the same program as Ben Askren, Michael Chandler, Tyron Woodley, Mark Ellis, right? He comes from a sort of a lineage there of good guys he was a national division one qualifier for the tournament in his senior year he had done some great things he is undefeated he beat up John Salter relatively easily to get to this point now has he fought anybody like Musashi not even close

no he has not but I will tell you dude dude, undefeated, full of confidence. His corner is like King Mo, Dustin Poirier. Like, it's a fucking all-star. Mike Brown, it's a lineup. How much of a threat do you perceive Johnny Eblen to be to Mousasi's title? In theory, a decent one, because I do think of some of these guys who are like, you know, I've seen him, but has he won me over yet? I think Eblen's better than that. Theory, a decent one, because I do think of some of these guys who are like, you know, I've seen him, but has he won me over yet?

I think Ebelin's better than that. I think he's got plus sides to him, his motor, his wrestling ability, his intention to score damage when in top position. But, Luke, dude, this version of 36-year-old Musashi, like you've openly said, you kind of missed it, you kind of had questions. Dude, he's 12-1 since 2015, okay? And, you know, that list of guys he's beat is, you know, I'm going to pull Luke Thomas and go up and down the wiki, but it's like, you know, Maheta Santos, Vitor Belfort, Uriah Hall,

Chris Weidman, Alexander Slomenko, Rafael Carvalho, Luke, Rory McDonald, Leota Machida, Doug Lima, like Salter, Vanderford. Like, he has been on a tear, and I think it's because of the late 30s efficiency that he sort of found himself in right now, uses his wrestling in very credible ways when needing to offensively. But just distance, I mean, just, you know, he's always been a very accurate striker. He's just operating on all cylinders right now. And, you know, Luke, I loved that speech he gave after dominating Austin Vanderford about, you know,

for the first time in life, I feel like I'm the best in the world. I fear it's going to be too much, even for a guy like Eblen, who for a contender comparative to guys like Salter and Vanderford, I think he's got another gear. I think he's going to make this a close fight. But I still think this is no question Musashi's fight to, you know, survive in advance and show us what he's got another gear. I think he's going to make this a close fight. But I still think this is no question Musashi's fight to survive in advance and show us what he's got. Luke, do you have any reasoning why Musashi doesn't get talked about

for going 12-1 in the last seven years against pretty damn great names across the board? Two reasons. One, you could argue he should be 11-2 because I thought Shlomenko deserved that win. You're right. I thought Shlomenko deserved that win. You're right. I thought Shlomenko beat him. But, okay, that aside, that aside,

and that was his first Bellator, I think his first or second Bellator fight. He was still getting the jitters out, so whatever. That aside, you're right. He has gone on an incredible run. I'm not exactly sure why it's gone somewhat unnoticed, and even by people like me who are forced to pay attention to it and have to, and I kind of put it to the side.

One reason might be that like you know McDonald and Lima were naturally undersized that's something that right and who is Austin Vanderford in the sense of like what has he done right he's did good things but he never fought like anybody like Musashi so he was kind of overmatched in that way that we certainly found I certainly found out the hard way after the fact um beyond that I'm not entirely sure but I agree with you. His run of late, he has really come alive. He's put all of the pieces of his game together. The only reason why I think I'm not going to say that people need to be like,

oh, Johnny Ebel is going to be the new champion. Certainly it's possible, but I'm not going to go here and declare it to you as an inevitability. But I would ask for people to take Johnny Ebel seriously. And the reason why I say that is, again, undefeated young guy, blah, blah, blah. But he's just got really, really, really, not just good takedowns. He's got strong control. Now, he doesn't have the passing or the positional dominance that Lovato Jr. had to beat Musashi. That part is lacking. And we'll see how much ground and pound he actually is able to employ on a scrambling Musashi. But I do think he's going to be the stronger guy. He is going to be the far better wrestler. He's also going to get hit a lot

more, which is going to change the equation too. But the reason why I think he's a threat and why the odds are not close, but closer than you might imagine them to be, is because this dude has suffocating control on the ground. He's very good. As you can see here, he's got good sub defense. He's relentless. He's's a threat i don't know how much of a threat we're gonna see but if this is i'll say it this way if musashi is dialed in there shouldn't be a reason that he loses over the course of five rounds but if he doesn't take eblen seriously he is an upset threat here and i do think that deserves to be mentioned yeah yeah no doubt it's not that it's not as if this version of Musashi isn't potentially able to be outworked

or whatever, but Ebelin's going to have to raise his game to get there. And I do want to double back. You mentioned the consecutive wins over Lima, or not consecutive, but Lima and McDonald, who are smaller guys, coming up. That does package in the same four-fight stretch in which Gegard lost the title to Lovato by majority decision and then bounced back by beating an old Machida by split decision. So I could understand during that stretch. It didn't look – something during that stretch, Luke, you know,

relit the fire. And you are certainly seeing the benefits of that. But, look, this card is very good because I'm so excited about what's going on in the Grand Prix. This main event, don't sleep on it. This is going to be fun to see whether we've got another, you know, who's the welterweight champion that just kind of came on and started coming on so much that I can't even remember his name in real time.

Logan Storley. No, the welterweight champion. Oh, Amosov. Yeah, Amosov. You know, Yaroslav Amosov just kept escalating to another level each fight. Eblen has got a little bit of that going for him, Luke, where I would not, tooslav, Amosov just kept escalating to another level each fight. Eblen has got a little bit of that going for him, Luke, where I would not, to your point, be blown away if he stepped up. Because sometimes it just takes getting to that next level

to raise your own game, to match it. Which is why I think Betterbeave looked so great against Joe Smith in boxing last weekend. And I think you're going to see that here, Luke. So, wow. By the way, when you interviewed Danny Sabatello, did that energy feel or taste anything like what you get from me on this show three days a week?

That was like, if I could make a fast food comparison, that was like five guys, and you're more like Arby's. You know what I'm saying? You're like a beef and cheddar. I mean, the Jamocha shake is so underrated that I'll take that comparison, but it doesn't make any sense. Thank you. It doesn't make any sense at all.

Speaking of Danny Sabatello, so the Bantamweight Grand Prix continues. This is one of the great things I think Bellator is doing, and you pointed it out, BC. The Bantamweight division isn't just good in UFC. It's good in a lot of places including but not limited to bellator danny sabatello who was a like a he had to fight into the tournament to win which he did fucking easily uh now takes on leandro ego who is much more experienced this was so funny i told you yesterday i asked him like hey what'd you like about uh what'd you make of leandro ego he's like hey fucking sucks like he just went

on and on one i think he's a dynamic personality and bellator could use a lot of those two dude do not lose sight of the fact this guy was i think a division one national qualifier for three years at purdue he can wrestle his ass off he has all the confidence in the world he's a very good athlete bc he can scramble he's quick uh he also has all those guys from att in his corner that's where he went he went on his own to go down there he's a very interesting guy bc i normally would never say this but you know everyone because everyone wants the tournament to have the daniel cormier story where cormier came on the heavyweight grand prix and just fucking bulldozed everybody and every time someone else is an alternate in a tournament they're like could

he be the next daniel cormier and the answer is no there's one Daniel Cormier I will say this Danny Sabatello is a threat to win this entire tournament and listen to the odds on this he is favored by our friends over at Caesars as a minus 625 over Leandro Ego at plus 450 who has vastly more experience size this one up for me yeah nice Julius Anglicist subtweet there, Luke. You're like, I know Julius. He's no Daniel Cormier. I forgot about that, actually. No, now that you bring it up, it is subtweetish,

but I didn't mean it that way. Yeah, look, you know, Sabatello, aside from his upper bound limits to steal a Luke Thomas phrase, you have to see what he's going to do next. I'm sorry. The way the swagger that he carries, and I thought he said it great, and again, go to

youtube.com slash morningcombat to see Luke's entire 20 plus minute interview with Sabatello. But Luke, you know, he's shit on the Henry Cejudos of the world for being a little too cringe and calculated while praising the Chael Sonnen and Conor McGregor's and basically saying, this is who I am.

It's not an act. It's exactly how I get myself fired up. I hate the guy I'm going against. I want to kill him. And if you don't like it, fuck you. Dude, there is already a must-see quality in just seeing if he can carry this stick, and he's saying it's not a stick. Up to this point, it's hard to disagree with that.

If he can back it up in the way that you mentioned, he just comes onto the scene, late replacement. This tournament kind of got flipped upside down, Pettis got hurt, right? We saw suddenly he got play-in bouts, there's a lot going on here, there was an interim championship on the line. Horiguchi lost. Horiguchi lost, yet Sabatello

just sneaks right in and easily takes care of the first fight here against Lugo, and now calling out Leandro Higo, like you said, it's not just, oh, he fucking sucks, they all suck. It's like, the key to his delivery, it's key, Luke, he sets it up like he's going to give you a real detailed answer, and he's like, you know, after reviewing the tape and really going up and down it, I think the difference between us is he just fucking sucks, but like,

you know, he actually seems to have at least that high of a motor, that strong of a wrestling background, and the intention plus swagger. I'm not comparing this to McGregor, but one thing about McGregor's run is it created that word people hate when I say it, magic. Meaning he was able to elevate himself to performances that we didn't think were possible. One punching Jose Aldo because the confidence in swagger was a fucking 10 out of 10 like every second of the day right Sabatello has some of that at the very least that I don't know where to put limits on that I don't think his striking on the feet is next level or anything like that but if he's able to get the fight on his terms Luke he may be able to just outwork even elites like he has one of those plus motors mixed with that.

Would you compare his swagger plus wrestling to the Bellator version of Ben Askren when he used to ride people from behind and just like drive them into the ground? He doesn't have that funk style that Askren was famous for. But like here to this point here where he's got wrist control and he's like signaling to the crowd to like cheer and stuff like that. He does have a little bit of that verve where he just knows he's so much better than them in these positions and and wants to act out in that kind of a way yeah in that sense they are quite similar now he goes on a three-fight win streak so he's coming in here in a good in a good

stance although we've seen him before step up and lose he got stopped by Aaron Pico this is going to be a big test I think think, for Sabatello. Luke, he may walk through this with the ease that he did in the qualifying rounds, and we may be having the conversations going to get escalated in terms of his future and would we even like him to win this championship right here in this tournament. But I think this is a good test on paper, just the same. Even if it ends up going that way, this is the right type of next challenge that I want to see to find out if Sabatello's game is anywhere close

to his level of confidence. But you know, you know your boy BC loves that 80s wrestling shtick he's got going on, Luke. I don't think it's cringe. I think it's right on the money right now. You've got to tiptoe that line and not get, you know. I think he's doing it perfectly. His outward business proposal that he's selling you through the camera,

it's working, dude. Also on this card is the other play-in match on the right side of the bracket where Enrique Barzola is going to take on Magomed Magomedov. Now, Magomedov was supposed to be earlier in this tournament, but there was Ramadan, and I think he may have been injured as well, so they had to delay him. He is coming off that loss to Ralphieion Stotts back in August of 2021,

so it's been a while since he competed, but here he is against Enrique Barzola. Barzola, a highly interesting figure. He does have five losses, but he has really kind of improved of late, and of course, one of the losses that he has is to Evloev, who was from the UFC. He left UFC himself and went over to Bellator, beat Darian Caldwell, and then had another win after that.

Here he takes on Magomed Magomedov. Now, BC, what's interesting about this one is I would have thought the odds would have been a little bit further apart. I certainly respect Barzola, and I take his chances of winning quite seriously. Listen to these odds. They've got, our friends at Caesars, they do have Magomedov as your favorite, but barely, minus 160 to plus 135.

Are you surprised by that? Very surprised. I'm like, what do we not know about Megamedov? Is there nude pics out there that were unflattering? I mean, what's going on here, Luke? To correct you, and I don't think you meant to say it this way, this is not a play-in bout. This is a quarter final matchup in the tournament. Barzola, though, came in through the door of the play-in victory last time out, just like Sabatello. Either way, Luke, I think Barzola looked like Sabatello, like he belonged, but no, I don't give him that same level of chance, and I am intrigued about the basis of why the betting odds are like it this way, whether to swerve movement in one direction or not, because Luke, although Magomedov got, I guess you could say humbled by Stottson that he was beaten in his own strength, more or less, on the ground, he's a dark horse

for this tournament no matter who's in it. But now you're telling me Horiguchi's out? Sergio Pettis out? Former champ Wander Chaleta out? Dude, if Magomed Magomedov comes in with the type of performance that we all have seen hints of, knew was possible despite his loss to Stottson, which let's give him credit, he kept trying to figure out how to try to win that fight. Luke, he's in play to win this whole damn thing.

You better believe that. He's got to come back with one of those high-level performances, but his ability to chain wrestle in that gas tank, he seems to be special. I don't know if we can put him on that hammer list yet luke but he's knocking on the door just the same i'm gonna say this i think maga madoff is a much better wrestler slash grappler much is a stronger word i'll say he's a better wrestler slash grappler but i think barzola barzola has better experience against better guys i'll say that obviously he fought kevin aguilar bobby moffitt movsar ev Hani Yaya, right? He's fought in a lot of pretty good names. But the other part to me is that

Barzola is more well-rounded. He is more well-rounded of the two. And so for that reason, I am curious to see either one of two things. Is Magomedov's grappling differential so great that he can just rely on that? Or is he going to have to show us something a little bit new? Is he going to have to start bringing around the other parts of his game, which are by no means bad. Please don't misunderstand me. But his winning skill set against elite guys is going to be wrestling, grappling, top position, that kind of a thing. I want to see to what extent, like what's the story here?

Is it back to the same old thing that's good enough? Or are we turning the corner into a new dimension of the game, given what happened in the Stotts fight, given some of the time off? Very, very curious to see how this one plays out, for sure. Luke, on the flip side for Barzola here, the native of Peru, I remember feeling like although he outlasted Darian Caldwell to get the third round TKO, I remember feeling like, okay, but did he win that fight or did Caldwell lose it? You package

that with, we've seen him lose in various step-ups in the past. Do you think that victory in that play-in bout over Nikita, I will not attempt to brutalize his last name, do you think that did enough to sort of show that he's not here by accident?

Yeah, no. Barzola is very, very good. And he's getting something of an elevated role due to the changes that happened in the Bantamweight Grand Prix. Also, Josh Hill got kind of passed over, even though he was sort of promised to be one of the alternates, but whatever. But at the same time,

you know, there's some proving that has to happen here, I think, not just to advance, but to be taken. Like, Danny Sabatello's win to get this ego fight was, I mean, it was a one-sided beatdown. We need to kind of see, like, what Barzola's going to do against a much more established figure in this Bellator-Bantamweight division to take him seriously as a threat. That's sort of where I'm at.

It's like, okay, you might be able to advance and win, but how seriously do we take your chances to win this? I'm not going to say Sabatello I favor outright to win the whole thing, but I definitely think he is, at a bare minimum, a dark horse to win it. Barzola, that remains unclear to me at the moment. I guess that's what I would say.

This is good fights, man. I'm looking forward to this. Shout out to Scotty Cokes and company over there at Bellator. Luke, quickly, we mentioned Peru. You know our listener Hardcore Lee, right? Trains at Nick Newell's gym in Connecticut, wrestled at Duke. He sent us those Peruvian sauces

because his wife is of that background, Luke. He's been on record multiple times saying Luke needs to understand that Peruvian food is the alpha in South America. It's better than Colombian, like by a lot. Luke, can you speak to that again? Yeah, he's right. He's right. No one denies that in South America. Like no one denies that Peruvian food is by far the best food. There is something to be said, though, that like overall Peruvian cuisine is

better. And I don't know if you're aware of this. There's a giant Chinese influence in Peruvian food. That's why they have chalfa, which is like their version of fried rice. It's amazing. And also, one good thing about Peru is they also have a lot of good seafood and ceviches. They're famous for it. I will say this, though. Peruvian food, on balance, is the best in South America. But they don't have the best steak i've

actually found that like the red meat in the way in which it's cooked like in argentina uh parts of brazil including even colombia as well they have a dish called sobre barriga which is like unbelievable um that individual dishes can give peruvian food a run for its money but on totality yes peruvian food is the best by far. Luke, can you speak about Guyana at all? You never talk about them. They're in South America. I don't know much about Guyana. I hate to admit, but I'm woefully ignorant about it.

They like cricket a lot, but shout out to all the Guyanese MK fans that I know are out there. Also on this card is the son of, what's his face, Jeff Brennan. It's Lucas Brennan, who was undefeated. Kat Zingano was on this card, taking on Invicta champ Pam Sorensen. Also, Brent Primus taking on Alexander Shabili. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing his last name. He's another

top prospect at 155 pounds. Sobaho Masi's on this card. Alejandro, speaking of Columbia, Alejandro Lara is on this card. And, top prospect, keep an eye on him, Cody Law, undefeated at six and oh he's probably gonna move to seven dude cody law is really good so that's someone to watch this is a loaded preliminary tv card which i know airs live on on youtube right on on yes on the showtime and

bellator channels also on pluto tv so if you want to check that out i'm sure one or two of these gets bumped up to the main card by the end of it. But, Luke, Anatoly Tokov at middleweight is taking on Muhammad Abdullah. Dude, he's a grinder, Tokov, man. He's a pretty shithouse. Yes, 30-3 is his record. He's unbelievable. Also, BC Rat Garbage is on this card. Are you serious?

Yes, Rat Garbage opens the card. Dude, that's Masi TV unto itself. But Sabahu Masi as well. Luke, you mentioned Alejandra Lara. Dude, she needs a very impressive win, Luke. It's going in the wrong direction quick for somebody who's like... There's been some issues, I think, with her overall development. She had some good progress for a while.

It's kind of stalled. I agree with you. I think to do something else in the sport, the level's going to have to be raised a little bit. And I believe she's Colombian, Luke. She is. She's from Medellin. Best of luck on Friday. We'll see. Although she trains out of Mexico.

She trains out of the same gym as Grasso and Aldana and all that kind of stuff. So, it's a good gym. We'll see what she can do. Alright. Topic number three. Now, BC, we've been over this a million times, but there actually is a new wrinkle.

Never seen this one before. So Nate Diaz calls to be released from the UFC. That's not new. Nate Diaz kind of insinuates he wants to fight Jake Paul. Not new. Here's what is new. You had him tweet a video of Jake Paul knocking out Tyron Woodley saying UFC release me now, please, or give me a fight with anyone in July or August. I have bigger shit to do. And I'm like,

why are you bringing this up again? The reason why this is interesting, BC is one, he's just openly like advocating before he was kind of hinting at it. Now there's no hints, but the bigger story to me was the Mac life asked dana white about it and dana white was saying like he's like working with different fighters and his point was listen nate hasn't won a fight he's won one fight in five years or whatever it is five fights by the way i love that he pulls that sword whenever he needs to although when he wants to use nate's brand he's got no problem putting him in a big spot when he wants to use when nate's brand is advantageous to him it's the greatest brand in the world when it's not it's a fading one but the bigger story was he actually said to

the mac life dana dana white ufc president yeah nate diaz probably should fight jake paul that's a fight that makes sense bc are you surprised dana white said that out loud. Yeah, I am. So it's almost, though, as surprised as I am, to be fair, it's meaningless unless action is taken. So you need quick action, and I need to know how quick, because we know that Jake Paul has a Showtime pay-per-view return date, August 6th in Madison Square Garden, with no opponent yet. If Dana White really means this, and by the way, if you heard the extended interview, there were comments, as you alluded to, of Dana saying, look, I love Nate Diaz, blah, blah, blah,

worked with him forever. I'm not trying to hold anyone back. Sorry. It does look like you've been trying to hold him away from other things. So the action is what is needed on the back end. And the action is one of two things, Luke, either outright release him slash say, go ahead. We're not going to stop you. We're not going to cut you, but we're not going to stop you either. Or the other side is what we didn't think was possible, not possible, but we didn't think was probable. UFC co-promoting with Nate opposite Jake to try to help it, you know, make even more money and become worthy of them being a co-promoter. Look, I tend to not think that's going to happen because ufc doesn't need it why would you put jake paul in a levered situation so if it's not that and i think

you would agree with me that it's not that then take action and get out of the way let him go either cut him or say to him go ahead because look i think that's what august 6th is what a month and a half away almost two months i think nate would take that fight and i think that's what, August 6th is what, a month and a half away? Almost two months? I think Nate would take that fight, and I think that'd be a monster event, whether UFC wanted to be involved or not. But unless there's action, dude, these are just words floating in the ethos, Luke. Like, my bad jokes, right? Sometimes I think they're hitting, I think they're slaying, Luke.

You know, like, hey, Dallas, yeah, hello, all right. No, not slaying, apparently, Luke. So hollow bullshit words, I often say. So is this Dana quote. Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong. I don't think you're totally wrong. I think you're mostly right. But I will say that Dana openly saying,

I think it makes sense for Nate Diaz to fight Jake Paul, that is a new wrinkle. That's sort of like tacitly acknowledging they can't stop it. They can slow it. They can somewhat derail it. And they can make it less of what it ordinarily would be, which is what I think they're't stop it. They can slow it, they can somewhat derail it, and they can make it less of what it ordinarily would be, which is what I think they're going to do. They're going to try and give Nate some, oh he has to accept it, but they're going to try and give Nate some kind of an opponent who they think is going to demolish him so that it would ruin his stock or at least

damage his stock heading into a Jake Paul fight. But I think the fact that Dana is finally openly talking about it kind of represents a little bit of the worm turning here now Nate forced his hand by like openly using the clip of Jake Paul knocking out Tyron Woodley where now when if you ask Dana you're a media guy and stick a microphone in his face you have to be like hey did you see Nate like not even making some like weird allusion to something no no he put the clip right in the tweet you kind of have to ask it they forced his hand a little bit but saying as much that that's a fight that makes sense it's sort of like he has always said like i don't quite you know the boxing thing is whole is all broken and you know i these guys are mma fighters why are they boxing this is the first time I can think of him saying an MMA guy fighting a YouTuber

is actually a thing that coherently he can accept and understand. That puts us in a somewhat new territory. You're not like me saying, okay, let's have action. Because, look, again, it's one thing to say it, but unless he lets him go fight Jake Paul August 6th, it means nothing, right? I mean, if Dana's smart and if he doesn't want to take part in it, which I don't think he does, wouldn't he wait until after that anyway? So he's saying it publicly.

So you're saying it's most likely that he's saying it now, but maybe action comes in a few months after this Jake Paul window? I think what he's trying to do is he realizes he can't stop it, and he realizes that under any condition, it's probably going to do big money. To your point. If he released him this instant and they booked the fight against Jake Paul at MSG. I mean,

does that do a million buys? It might, it might, it honestly might do it. It might, it might, it's my, but here's what I think he wants to do.

I think he has tacitly accepted or previous to this point, anyway, tacitly accepted that that's an inevitability. And I think what they want to do is kind of lower his stock on the way out not really to like have less combat sports competition but to lower the potential reward for jake paul conceivably winning and also you know let's just damage nate on the way out and i don't mean in a sinister way this is just what the ufc is often done i bring it up all the time i tried it with arlovsky against jake o'brien but that's what you think they're

going to do so that that's if that happens so what you're saying is you think, okay, Dana said this, but they still want to book Nate in one more really tough fight like against the Chimaev type. So that means that's not much different. If Nate has one fight left on his deal, how does that change anything, Dana saying that? Do you know what I'm saying, Luke? I guess what I'm trying to say is the way Dana is pitching it now

is that he's pitching it in a way where it's like, oh, yeah, that does make sense. Almost like, yes, your grandfather does need to be in a retirement home. Like, oh, that's the next stop on the train to sadness. And I guess that's where someone like Nate belongs. I mean, again, that's not my opinion. I'm not suggesting that's how I believe. And I don't know exactly how Dana believes it. But the way he's kind of leaning into it is like, all right, I can't stop this inevitability,

but what I can do is I can ruin it a little bit. And by the time it arrives, I can frame it in such a way as that you look at it as something, and we would look at it as less than, you know, Nate versus RDA or something like that. Obviously it wouldn't be that, but you know, to really downplay it, to really almost turn it into a bit of a joke rather than, because to be honest, if Jake Paul got Nate Diaz in the ring, that elevates Jake Paul's brand, does it not? Hugely. So I was going to ask you, do you think it's,

because neither of us believe that Dana's going to do this in like a co-promotion sense, like Mayweather-McGregor, nor do we believe this fight is on that level financially. It's but to your point it's still a big deal i don't even think dana could co-promote this because doesn't that go against in some ways the deal he has with espn since this is a showtime date for jake i mean does that does that does that play into it too dana couldn't just go help out another network's pay-per-view, correct? Yeah, that would be the other part, too. Here's a question for you. If Jake was aligned with DAZN,

would Dana want to stick it to him as bad? He would still want to stick it to him, obviously. As bad? What do you think? It's interesting. That's an interesting wrinkle that you're throwing into this conversation. Don't Dana and Eddie Hearn kind of get along? They do. And everybody else in boxing hates Eddie Hearn right now

and is one by one openly turning on him. Dana loves him um yeah i mean dude again without any action behind it this is absolute nothing it's a fucking nothing okay but it's a it's a nice sentiment right it's like it yeah i believe fighters should get paid more okay what are you gonna do about it uh luke in regards to the potential whether it happened august 6th or let's say you know november jake paul in a boxing match with nate nate with uh nate diaz excuse me nate does compete at top level 170 pounds in mma jake competes at 195 or so in boxing how do you give nate diaz like a huge chance here a huge chance or what? How are you looking at this?

I want to see how Nate looks in his next UFC fight, which may or may not tell us a lot, but it could potentially tell us a lot. I mean, it all depends on the nature of the fight, obviously. I can make a better judgment call there. I'll just say this. I know it sounds, in theory, absolutely fucking insane to think Jake Paul could beat Nate Diaz,

but I don't know how insane that is you're right he has the size advantage certainly has a youth advantage all he does is box he doesn't do anything else and no I don't think Jake Paul could beat a prime Nate Diaz maybe he can't even beat an old Nate Diaz I don't know I think it's competitive I think it's probably competitive yeah um and I think there's enough intrigue of what we don't know that that just adds on to the sales of what would be big to begin with because of the names. But when you add on, I'm not really sure who wins that. That's a potential blockbuster, Luke.

So, dude, I mean, like Dana could easily just the right move is for Dana to cut the cord and say, Nate, thanks for everything. If you want to come back for a big fight, we'd love to have you for McGregor three. But go do it but dude i just i it's not gonna happen without what you're saying without running him through the chamay of dry cleaning uh you know run him through the car wash first you know what i'm saying like yeah no yeah also um mike tyson i'm not gonna read the whole quote but mike tyson was on jimmy kimmel live and kind of gave an indication that he'd be somewhat interested in a Jake Paul fight, called it interesting, says he's skilled enough because he's winning.

Even if he's fighting guys that you don't believe are good enough fighters, they should be able to beat him, but they can't. He says he'd be kind of interested in it. I got to tell you, well, I don't really know how I feel about that. How do you feel about a potential Mike Tyson, Jake Paul exhibition? Because that's what it would be. It would have to be an exhibition. Whether it was Logan or Jake, they both been rumored at times.

I have a very love hate idea with this idea. One, because like Mike already had the happy ending, right? We never thought we'd see him again in any form of fighting. And he got into ridiculous shape and shout out to Mike. And you know, he didn't get hurt against Roy and look pretty damn good. And we were talking about him and all these other fights suddenly so that part hurts me Luke I mean because Jake Paul for whatever you want to say about him he's a big boy who can punch a little bit right like let's give him that credit he's an athlete to a degree like there's something there

but at the same time dude you can really talk yourself into the competition of this matchup and that both have a shot at potentially getting a knockout here right like i know that's the the that's the selling point and i think it by the way would do monster business i there's no way it couldn't even if mike was sad and decrepit it would still do monster business you better believe it would i'll just say this for my jake paul you don't want to see mike you don't want to see a sad ending in this luke you really don't also i just don't want to see a i don't want to see a like here's the thing they try the logan paul mayweather thing and it did big business we were there we had a great time in miami but in the end it was just too weird to get a really fun fight out of it

mayweather was stealing on him constantly, but he was so small relative to Logan. Logan Paul is a big, strong kid, right? So there was not much Logan Paul could do except tolerate it. And he kind of had flurries here and there. It was just a weird pairing. It didn't really work. Like you want people who are roughly similar in size, roughly similar in a few dimensions. This one's just too far apart. Like to me, the Jake Paul experience is much, much, much more interesting when it's an actual professional contest. I think you could make an actual professional contest with Nate Diaz, maybe eight rounds. I don't know if you could go 10, but you could probably go eight and that's enough. That to me is reasonably intriguing.

But when you're starting to hedge, okay, this guy's 50, this guy's in his twenties, they're going to be, you know, 35 pounds apart. We're going to hedge okay this guy's 50 this guy's in his 20s they're going to be a you know 35 pounds apart we're going to have exhibition this size gloves this size it just it ends up being something it's not supposed to keep it you know reasonably in the same universe of where it's supposed to be to be you know uh the proper stakes the proper reactions the proper kind of training to get what you want and i think you get a much better product in the end. That's my personal view. All right. I'm a little nervous.

I'd still want to see it, dude. At the end of the day, and I think, do you know how many clicks you'd get of people that are like, fuck the Paul brothers? They deserve, they have it coming for pretending they're boxers. Let's go to the bullpen and call Mike Tyson up. Like, dude, that's the ultimate impulse click buy. Like that, dude, what is the ultimate impulse click buy like that. Dude, what is the ceiling on pay-per-view buys for this?

That'd be insane. One five? One five? Right? Has to be. I mean, we have recent, somewhat recent footage of Mike Tyson looking good. Right? Like we have a somewhat recent footage.

You know what I'm saying? We have footage of him just beating the shit out of a guy on a plane like i just i just don't believe jake given who jake paul has fought to this point and who he's really looking to get i don't think he takes it even under hedged circumstances like an exhibition i really don't um you don't think jake would take it are you serious dude no i don't think he would take it i disagree while i'm not here to tell you that jake paul is all these a million things, I think he's honestly trying to be a good fighter. I give him that credit. Yes, he trains hard.

The kid trains hard. But he's a smart businessman. And like Logan accepting the Floyd fight when you're like, how the hell is Logan going to not get beat up badly? And by the way, it turned out to be a weird show, as you mentioned. Not my favorite fight, Logan Floyd, ever, by any means. But it was a little weird to see that, you know, Floyd couldn't do what he wanted to. I think Jake is like, I got to take this chance.

Dude, it's Mike Tyson. I got to take this chance, right? Dude, I think, you know, it's hard to... Okay, so let's imagine worst case scenario for Jake. Takes the fight, makes a gazillion dollars, but gets stretched, right? However unlikely that might be, that is at least conceivably on the table. If he gets stretched, I'm not going to sit here and say that the Jake Paul show is over. I think that's a little bit overstating it.

I lived through Kimbo Slice losing. It's not quite true that once they lose, the balloon pops. But it does do significant damage. It does actually have an effect. Especially, Kimbo was polarizing, but over time became beloved. Jake Paul is, you know, he has a fan base for sure, but he is quite polarizing in a, in a similar kind of way. Or he actually, I would say even the worst way. If you get stretched again, he could probably come up with some fights afterwards like that.

And I know I was like, Oh, he lost to Mike Tyson, but dude, you know what the narrative would be he lost to a guy in his 50s who's been smoking weed wearing bumblebee costumes on TikTok you know not taking it seriously at all and he got fucking put his got his lights put out this guy can't beat anyone for shit Eddie Hearn who has said he's waiting for Jake Paul to get chinned would have a field day I think he has to take fights now where he can at least reasonably look good, but he has to be able to shine a little bit. I don't think he shines even in an exhibition against a 50-year-old plus Mike Tyson. I don't.

Yeah, there's a lot of problems. If you're Jake Paul, you can look bad. If you abuse Mike Tyson, you'll look bad. You know what I mean? There's ways you can look bad in this scenario, but anytime you're doing circus type of promotion, which this is to a degree, it has that risk, Luke, okay? Dude, the ropes held up Jake Paul against Tyron Woodley.

What do you think Mike Tyson would do? I know. Like, come on. You know, Mike Tyson's still got it from the standpoint of, like, in any given minute, can he put together a combination that ends the fight? Yeah, he showed us against Roy Jones that if he takes it seriously and gets in stupid shape with it. I mean, Luke, he got access to to things that he didn't probably in the 80s to get himself in stupid shape you know what I'm saying no doubt about it all right BC uh topic

number four here kind of a small one but it's interesting old Bob Arum old Bob Arum is still out here making news uh he did a media scrum and they asked him about Fury versus Francis Ngannou. Here was his quote. Well, I think he's still, the MMA guy is still recovering from an injury, which is true. But I would love to do that fight. And depending on Ngannou's contract with the UFC, we'd either do it with or without the UFC. But that would be a huge, huge event. BC, would UFC co-promote with

Bob Arum? And for folks who don't know, they haven't beefed recently, but throughout the entire 2010s, all Dana White did was call Bob Arum a scumbag who was ruining boxing. So I don't know how likely that is. UFC is a bunch of skinhead

fans watching other skinheads fight. No, roll around on the floor is what he said. Yeah, there's been a lot of those takes from a lot of boxing folk. So, no, I don't love this fight, but here's the deal. And I get there's a way that they could make this must-see and very entertaining by coming together on the rules like they've been talked about.

And, of course, we're in the Triller Triad days where could you put small gloves and BKFC-style holding on this fight and make it more interesting? Possibly you could, yeah. I only think Dana White is going to do it, Luke, if there is some form of Disney-related huge upside in him doing them a solid in that regard.

Because no one's doubting that if promoted right and using the vehicle you know sports center on espn on in every gym and you know in a cafe here there you know what i'm saying like the promotional vehicle wise it's a slam freaking dunk but dana has no real need to do it and i do think it opens up a pandora's box potentially for the control that dana and company have over you know money and a lot of these negative headlines that are happening because of the control they have if they give into Ngannou yes they would you know get him back under contract and you can still make

Ngannou and ridiculously big fights with you know Stipe and Jones and gone and all that but it also Luke would be it'd be it set a new precedent in a lot of ways. So I don't think it happens unless there is something that can only be done like at the Bohemian Grove among high level CEOs. Like if Dan is sitting down with Disney and they're, you know, there's giant stacks on the table and they're like, you know, you do this for us. Well, you know, we won't tell John S Nash about this non documentedocumented budget bonus we'll give you right here um do you agree with me on that luke that it's certainly possible that everybody involved could say yes to this with the ufc's inclusion in this right but it's not it's not the most

likely scenario correct i think it's the least likely scenario. All right. Then we're on the same page here, Luke. All right. I don't think, I don't, I'm not saying there will never be a scenario where Dana White doesn't, okay, I am not arguing that Dana White never works with a boxing promoter again. That's not what I'm saying. It is entirely possible we live in a strange world, strange things happen. But Bob fucking Arum i mean no and and even though they would financially benefit on that you know on francis's behalf i don't think the ufc is all that happy

with francis right now so no i don't i don't perceive that happening whatsoever yeah i fully agree with you on that i'm just saying it's possible to close on this before you transition out luke because i think people do care. I wanted to ask you this if I can remember what I was about to ask you. I'm sure it was great, though, Luke. Tyson Fury. Eddie Hearn has echoed some sentiments I've heard related to Fury constantly

saying, I'm retired, I only want to come back for WWE or to box Francis, right? You hear that a lot from Fury. Do you agree with Eddie Hearn and some of the dissenters that Fury is not just trying to control the negotiation leverage narrative by doing the whole tease of retirement,

but that he really hopes Anthony Joshua beats Alexander Usyk in their summer rematch. And if he doesn't, he may not see the value in taking on someone as hard to deal with as Usyk for all four belts and may consider you know using this whole thing as a facade to walk away and avoid that do you think there's any any levels of truth to that yeah sure for sure I think that I mean I would pick Fury to beat Francis in a boxing match obviously I would pick him to beat Joshua and I would pick

him to beat Usyk I think Usyk's the most competitive of the three, but I still think Fury beats all of them. And again, we're talking about a Fury who's in shape, ready to go, the whole thing. But at this stage, given how much money he could make one direction or the other, what he has to prove, what he has to lose if something went wrong, if he took one of the tougher fights that he doesn't necessarily have to take how he might play one opportunity off of the other and hedge it as a way to get certain outcomes that he might prefer yes i totally think he's looking at the way in which you described for sure i believe that i mean he's always working right you know what i'm saying like he's always doing something in a calculated way or he's just goofing off and it's hard for us to tell which way he's leaning at that moment.

But Luke, I will say this. If he did that, if, if Usyk beats Joshua and we have a chance right now to do a four belt heavyweight champion, you know, the biggest fight you can make in the sport,

both guys unbeaten by the way, right? All four belts. Like, and he avoided that purposely to go boxing Ghanu? Now, look, that doesn't mean he couldn't come back into the heavyweight boxing and you can last forever. It doesn't mean he couldn't take three years off and make money

and get fat again and do WWE. You get my point. But in the prime window, if you would allow the narrative to say that, okay, you were unbeaten and you were great, but you didn't try to fight everybody in your era and you walked away from them. Because, look, I agree with you. Fury versus Usyk, which is a hella interesting matchup. Dude, we're both picking Fury. And if they, you know what I mean?

Like, there's a lot of, there's a, Fury has so many more ways to win that than an Anthony Joshua would. You know what I mean? So, no. I don't, no. I would not accept that. As a public narrative in terms of his legacy, you could not accept that as an honest boxing fan. Luke, you couldn't.

Tell me the truth. You couldn't. Him walking away? You couldn't. No. No, you can't do that shit. It doesn't mean he won't do it, especially if the price is right in one direction or the other.

So, we'll have to see. All right. Last but not least, quick hitters, BC. These aren't that great um we'll go through these very quickly the rest of the ufc 278 card was announced this of course will take place i believe in salt lake city this is going to be on august 20th this is leon edwards taking on current ufc welterweight champion kamara usman who dana has declared as incontestably the greatest welterweight of all time i don, what the hell is up with that?

Dude, is that just him trying to stick it to GSP? What are we doing here, bro? Yeah, I mean, dude, guy you're making money off of, guy you're not making money off of. What do you think the promoter is going to say? Listen, it's not that there's actually not an argument to make for Kamaru if you really want to look at it. And it's difficult because if you just look at title defenses, GSP got to a title earlier in

his ufc run by virtue of the way the sport worked back then where there wasn't this long contendership queue but i would argue that like the guys gsp beat like that record that body of work is better than kamaru's body of work now you can have a debate about that it's not like an ironclad truth but like to say that like usman is incontestably, undeniably, I think was the word he used, better than GSP, that is not true at all. It's certainly a point you could make, but it's hardly like...

For example, who's the best light heavyweight of all time? It's Jon Jones with a bullet. I mean, whatever else you want to say, that's the best. And the second best guy, Cormier, is a pretty distant second you are we saying kamaru is that to gsp that that's nonsense that's not true at all sorry senator i i know jack kennedy and you're no jack kennedy i mean come on dude like unless you're just trying to entice gsp to come out of retirement to prove him wrong uh or to shit on gsp who might be free of his contract, who could take a boxing fight against De La Hoya.

There's also that, too. Yeah. All right. Also on this card, we talked about it previously, Jose Aldo will be taking on Marab Diwalishwili, which is a fun fight. This one was interesting. It was supposed to happen in, I think, even before this,

but it was supposed to happen in July. They moved it to August. Luke Rockhold versus Paolo Costa will be on this card as well. Dude, this card kind of rocks, right? It's not bad. Marcin Tybura taking on Alexander Romanov. For Romanov, that's a big test. Tybura is kind of like slept on by fans.

And yeah, he's had ups, he's had downs. He's not the best guy in the division. But Romanov looks to be somebody to pay attention to. You beat Tybura, that's a pretty legitimate win as you escalate through the ranks. That's going to be one to pay attention to. You beat Tybura. That's a pretty legitimate win as you escalate through the ranks. That's going to be one to pay attention to. Leonardo Santos taking on Jared Gordon. Tyson Pedro against Harry Hunsucker.

Yeah. Don't forget about a red-hot Sean Woodson, Luke. Okay? Thank you. I will not. Luis Saldana. Alright, also BC making the news. I don't care so much about this. It was kind of interesting. Pewter Jan calls out Henry Cejudo.

And Cejudo responded to the call out saying, only if you had had the gold, I would have loved to have buried you. And should you go back to Dagestan and learn more wrestling because you got out wrestled by Division III All-American, that wouldn't be smart of you taking an Olympic champ after that lose. Law spelled wrong. I'm after gold, ho. Bend the knee.

Knee spelled wrong. Jan responds, the truth is you retired the day I became number one contender and unretired on the same day I ceased to be champion. Now you're ducking me again only to proving those facts. So Hudo responds, and you lost to Aljo Lame. It's a very funny joke if you've been hitting the head with a hammer. Do you think the Olympic champ two-divisionc is going to play with sorry ass contenders your fat ass bold manger is going to get your hurt i'll give 20 off if you subscribe to my technique of the week you know i'm getting the title shoot

next i don't know if henry's writing those tweets bc i'm just going to point that out oh wow he's trying to say there's somebody else that writes those for the fighters? That'd be cringe. Luke, I'll tell you this, though. You know I've supported Cejudo understanding his value, leaving for a while on his own terms, and now trying to parachute in for big opportunities. Dude, I'm here if he wants to fight Volkanovski, Conor, whoever, but I'm kind of sick of this conversation.

I know he's taken the steps to get himself back in the testing pool, and we're in the process right now. And I know that he's also trying to land this, you know, put out fielders, land a big fight. But I am getting a little sick of this. I want to see him fight now, Luke. He makes big fights against everyone. I do think he is super elite, top of the pound-for-pound consideration,

went active, had that incredible year, multiple divisions. I love me some Henry Cejudo despite the cringe. Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy, consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Are you crushing your bills?

Defeating your monthly payments? Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game. Rise to it with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. The credit card that rewards your good financial habits. Earn points for paying your credit card bill in full and on time every month. Level up from bill payer to reward slayer terms and conditions apply but i'm ready for the fight now luke okay if it's yon hell yeah if it's yon hell absolutely hell yeah yeah i'm a little sick of it too um just

two more of these very quickly dana says he's not going to rebook serrani versus lozanne the first time they booked it serrani got sick last minute, like a food poisoning kind of thing. Then they rebooked it and moved it a few weeks later. Joe Lozon had a patella tendon issue, which he then resolved last minute. He had some kind of weird condition where I guess it was dislocated or whatever. Fixed it.

Tried to get the fight again. It still wouldn't happen. And Dana White's like, I'm not going to rebook it. Last but not least, BC, I don't even know what to say about this one so you can take this one away September 4th Fox Sports pay-per-view dude who is going to pay for this Andy Ruiz taking on Luis Ortiz

not the worst fight in the world but on pay-per-view okay not the worst fight in the world no on pay-per-view hell no a two year build to get to this fight? No, it makes no sense. I don't really understand of late what Fox has been doing. Although the Keith Thurman, Mario Barrios fight, like good fight on paper, not really a pay-per-view.

Still, people paid for it. Fun fight to watch. We haven't heard anything from them since, seemingly, Luke. So, it seems like Fox playing out the string of the end of their PBC deal. It's still a fight. We kind of have to see what happens. Ortiz 43 kind of went life or death with Charles Martin and Prince Charles Martin, whatever, Sir Charles Martin.

I don't know. You know the guy I'm talking about in their January 1st pay-per-view, which was another puzzling pay-per-view direction. Ortiz still has something. Ruiz hasn't fought since uh getting up off the canvas to be areola and another pay-per-view that probably shouldn't have been i like the fight i like the matchup the winner could get a big money you know heavyweight fight but this is like trying to serve me a grilled cheese on a you know with a steak knife luke right does that make any sense i don't

know does it depend on what's inside the grilled cheese? I mean, do you get tomato in yours, Luke? It's automatic, right? You got it. You know what my go-to is? I haven't had it in a while, but it used to actually, it used to be my go-to. I like to get a wheat bagel, toasted, cream cheese with a tomato.

That's my go-to. I like that little... Oh, that's badass. Oh, one more for you on the way out, Luke. Sportsbetting.ag, who always seems to put out those odds on fights right after people whisper about them, they have Nate Diaz as an early minus 250 favorite over the plus 170 Jake Paul, which is the exactly opposite sort of early stance that I had of like, this size difference may be more than people think.

They're like, no, these hands difference, Luke, are going to be the difference. Maybe, but Diaz is not young. And again, they're going to give him a rough-ass fight on the way out. That's just the way it's going to be. Which Nate could do the impossible. Not the impossible.

He could surprise people and stick it to UFC. Again, I saw it with Arlovsky. Everybody thought Jake O'Brien was going to run him over. And he didn't. So we'll have to see, but it could get interesting. And that's it. That's it for our Quick Hitters. It's time for your Feces, BC.

Yeah, every Monday at this time, although today is Wednesday, we do BC's Feces, which is me scouring the globe for the highs and lows, the good, bad, the ugly. We should change the name of this segment from Have You Seen This Shit? to BC's Feces. The good, the bad, the good, bad, the ugly. We should change the name of this segment from Have You Seen This Shit to BC's Feces. The good, the bad, the ugly, the in-between, in combat sports and beyond. And boy, was it a loaded combat sports highlight weekend.

Luke, try to pick through that UFC card. I could have put every fight. I seriously could have put a video from every fight on there in Austin. It's called Have You Seen This Shit? Oh, God. Luke, UFC. I can't stop crying fight night in austin did you see women's strawweight maria olivera who had swagger all week at this event licking the blood off her gloves there she's in the yellow from brazil luke she did it after the fight as well. A lot of people making BJ Penn memes.

I originally took my mind to the Lava Shack, but you into this, Luke? It's a little overdone at this point, but I thought Oliveira, I can't say I thought she deserved to lose because I wasn't fully watching the fight like a judge, so I can't say that. I did think that DePaula was piecing her up

a little bit later but dude you're right she came in there like i mean from the opening bell she was set on fire so i kind of like her swag i gotta be honest but yeah look at the blood a little overplayed split decision win over the three rounds against gloria depaula there was also some dancing on the stage of the weigh-in so she's getting our attention here, Luke. Let's keep it going, though. Friend of the program, Adrian Yanez putting them hands that you mentioned as some of the best boxing

in the UFC on Tony Kelly. Look at this handiwork, Luke. Bro, did you see Tony Kelly responding on social media afterwards? No, I didn't. Dude, he doubled down. I mean, he, uh, what did he say? Something about, like, some, I don't even want to repeat it. Some racist shit about Latinos and what they do.

Not good. I'm like, bro. Okay, man. Probably not the way to handle things, but okay. Mr. Campanus, can you please put the microphone down? Thank you. Luke, speaking of Giannis, here was his take slinging that Texas shi-at after the fight. We don't care where you're from, where you're at.

If you're in Texas, you're fighting a Texas guy. You're getting slapped. Texas Forever Street. Yeah, Luke, you in on that? I do love Adrian Yanez. I think he's a wonderful talent. I don't love Texas that much. I got relatives in Texas.

It ain't that money. Hey, Joe Rogan in the crowd. Did you see that? I did. I did, and I was like, oh, he doesn't do fight nights. That's right. He only does the pay-per-views. And only domestic pay-per-views at that.

That's a good gig, bro. Let me ask you a question. What do you think his per-event check looks like? Serious question. For Joe Rogan, you do have to understand the levels of fame he he reached due to his podcast blowing up and the spotify deal and all that it was more than i ever thought for a guy who hosted what fear factor was in a popular sitcom on nbc and is a world-renowned comic i mean he's uber famous. So his per night to call What are you paying if you're the UFC for him to call a pay-per-view?

I think it's six figures. I was going to say it's $75,000 too high. You're going to go right up to six figures. Oh, I think it's much more than $75,000. Yeah. I mean, is it because we're always blown away in TV, right? When you find out that the lead actors in Seinfeld were making

what? Like multiple million per episode by the end, right? When you find out that the lead actors in Seinfeld were making what? Multiple million per episode by the end, right? It was something ridiculous? He's not in Seinfeld territory, but if you told me $250,000 a pop, I would believe it. Damn. Damn, dude. Think about it. How many pay-per-views does he do a year? Nine to ten? He doesn't do all of them.

Sometimes less than that. That would be, what, two and a half mil a year? That seems about right, actually. That seems about right. Yeah, I guess you're right. Doing less than that so that would be what two and a half mil a year like that seems about right that seems that seems about right yeah i guess i guess you're right doing less states also increases that that uh per per outing number uh luke let's keep it going on this undercard and again i know i had so many to pick from but how about cody stamen sending eddie wineland into retirement very brutally dude this was one way one minute traffic here yeah the ref could have stepped in a little earlier here you know he was yeah i mean that that was the end there within a minute of the first round but that went on for a while this was like this was the end of the bear mauling but

there was a beginning to the bear mauling too luke you want to say anything nice about the the inaugural wec bantamweight champion eddie eddie wineland he had a great honestly he had a great career dude he he was in a lot of big fights he had some solid wins he did it for a really long time he always had an awkward style he always kind of stuck to it he represented the midwest the whole way like he should be very proud of himself um he had thunder he had thunder and then fish too luke okay yes he could in his day he was a formidable formidable opponent dude like again everyone wants to be like oh either you're john jones or you're nothing nah man there's a lot of in between and eddie wineland occupies a very very

i would say um you know he occupied a really great space uh for the time he carved out in the career yeah for sure well wineland walks into retirement luke if you're wondering where stamen walked to after the win let's hear from him let's go i'm getting fucking wasted tonight dude that was me every night of my 20s like looking in the mirror that's very like 2008 ish for ufc right 2009 ish it's like that had the whole promotion had that vibe, but now when we see... By the way, speaking of Cowboy, I didn't put it in here. I could have. Do you see his kids dressed up in the full three-piece suit with the Monster Energy

Cowboy hat? You into that, Luke? You know, everyone's got their own way of living. I'll put it that way. I'm not going to tell Cowboy how to live, Luke. He's a legend. Damn right. Phil Howes, Luke, put it on. Golden Boy MMA alum.

Phil Howes. Phil Howes. That's what I said. Howes, yeah. He put it on Mini-Meeta DC Duran Wynn. They finally stopped this bloody battle. I know there was a dust-up after between DC who told Howes to be

respectful during the commercial. Full House over here, Phil House. Luke, were you impressed, though? This was a brutal beating. You know what? Did you see the video Deron Wynn put out? He narrated Phil House beating his ass, and he was like, and it's hilarious, too.

I feel bad for Deron Wynn. He's a good dude. But he was like, all right, here. This is exactly how it went. He's like, all right, now you see Phil Hall is elbowing me for the 30 millionth time. That shit fucking hurt. And here he is left hooking me. Yo, that shit really hurt.

Like, he just goes on and on about the guy getting his ass beat. I give Deron Wynn a lot of credit for, like, you know, just. We always talk about this. Everyone always interviews the loser. And I know a lot of fighters like oh there's nothing lonelier than when you lose and like you know when you win everyone's congratulating you when you lose no one is but from the media side i'll say this like i want to be respectful of someone having time to themselves to lose i don't want to stick a microphone in

their face but i will also say at the same time bc sometimes the loser has much more interesting things to say than the winner. This would be one such case. Yeah, absolutely. And if you're wondering why would Wynn take that beating, there was like a brief second where it looked like he was coming on in the second half of that fight, and you thought the gas tanks were going in opposite directions, but that wasn't true, Luke.

Phil Hawes kicked his... Damn, I mean, shout out to Deron Wynn for taking that, and hopefully he bounces back, Luke. That was a lot of abuse he took. PFL from Atlanta, Luke, did you see Josh Silveira, of course, son of Brazilian Shrek Conan Silveira of ATT fame? Luke, he put it on Martin Hamlet in a crazy finish here. Yeah, we talked about this, Aaron Bronsetter and I, on Friday.

It's Silveira. He is the son of Conan, who is sort of a famous coach, former fighter himself over at ATT, big old dude. And his son is undefeated. This was another one. He got first-round stoppage. I think this was his PFL debut. And he is, I think what Aaron told me was UFC wanted to sign him,

and they were going to, and he went to PFL instead. It's not a bad call. You get some good experience, and if you win the whole thing, you a shitload of money yeah in the process i it's an interesting choice that he made yeah absolutely he looks to be the goods here i've seen him before in terms of the whispering for you know conan's son is turning pro and and he looks to be pretty damn good martin hamlet was was in contention i believe last year for that championship so this was a good win for him also at pfl luke jeremy stevens shaved seemingly every part of his body to try to make weight. But now the videotape emerges of a Daniel Cormier UFC 210-like potential cheating?

They say, if you look closely, Stevens' left heel lifting off the ground. He didn't grab the towel like DC. But Luke, do you smell fishery in this at all? A little bit. Look, actually, look at his outside toes. Yes. No, no, it's less to me about the heel, and it's more as a guy who has to weigh in constantly

to monitor his progress. All of your feet have to be on the black part where the sensors are, so he's actually putting less input on the sensors. But, you know, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. So whatever. Rubbins, Rice, and yeah, Stevens did get the win. Were you impressed?

I think he got a split decision over Miles someone. Yeah, I didn't see the fight. I did see that he got the win, but yeah. All right. You're like, I don't watch that shit. Look, it's good. PFL's good this year. No, PFL has fights on Friday night as well. Anthony Pettis is back. It's actually a decent card, but yeah all right you're like we i don't watch that look it's good pfl's good this year no pfl

has fights pfl has fights on friday night as well anthony pettis is back it's actually a decent car but we'll talk about that on friday all right luke how about this you know i i get sentimental for these homecomings yuri prohachka wow coming back how about this coming back to the czech republic as the as the warrior champion he is luke well earned well earned my dad took me to the czech republic on a family visit in 2001 it's a phenomenal place i didn't know what kind of support he because you know if a fighter goes back to like rio de janeiro yeah they're going to be treated as like a big hero or something right because well you know i'm just saying i've been told that in brazil soccer of course is number

one but mma is right behind it which is kind of crazy to think about i mean it's a huge country with you know a lot of people um i just didn't know what like what's the czech republic gonna be like and dude they showed the fuck up for this guy i was so happy to see mma popular and like these pockets that we don't really have access to here in the states to better understand look at that that was great i mean it's it's like i kind of i've always loved it whether it's like uh yaoming in the nba or remember when ichiro first landed in the major league baseball it's like the media is like following every pitch or moment or whatever and it's like it's such a frenzy but it it you know it makes new fans it draws attention to see him get that love as you mentioned after

going through hell literally to get to that point. I mean, you can say whatever you want about him, but he earned it. He earned it. We don't show love to our athletes, any level of comparison, not even the Olympic level, to what these other countries do, Luke, right? Yeah, we're spoiled here, though. Like, you ever watch the Summer Olympic medal count? It's always like us, China.

And then sometimes like Germany or some shit, but we usually win on overall and gold medal counts. Like we're, we have so many good high level athletes here. We're, we're spoiled as shit. So, you know,

yeah, I'm, I'm with you on that. Oh, let's go to top rank boxing from the Hulu theater at MSG in New York. Luke Troy Isley. Check out this right-hand finish. Good lord.

Oh, got him in the step. Damn, that looked like the ending of Rocky III, right, where they freeze it, like they both land at the same time, it looked like? That was, yeah. Can we zoom in? That was. I need to see it one more time if they can show it.

Oh, no, he slipped to the outside and caught him in the middle. Jesus. That was vicious. Luke, your co-main slipped to the outside and caught him in the middle. Jesus, that was vicious. Luke, your co-main event to the Better Be fight was featherweight Robazy Ramirez, who had an early upset loss to his pro career, but is putting it back together. Check out this KO of previously unbeaten Abraham Nova.

Hell yeah. And just, dude, look at the way he dismissively looks at him as he walks away. Oh, he's a badass, dude. Ramirez, I think he was a gold medalist. He was an absolute badass as an amateur, and he's got that swagger for the pro game, Luke. Indeed.

Look at this. Over the top misses, and then just straight down the middle. Boom. And Nova's that dude who always colors his beard like he's Hollywood Hulk Hogan and has a mascot that looks like him that follows him to the ring. I love that guy. So shout out to Abraham Nova. Also on this card, Luke, here's a video footage of Betterbeef just fucking Joe Smith up.

Here's the first knockdown, dude, to the top of the skull. Dude, this was a mugging. See how we were talking about before. You see how Baterbiev was backing up and drops him? Just setting traps for him. It's one thing to go forward. Then you're like, all right, I'll let you you go forward just walking into a trap on this guy he tries to double jab his way in and he times the second jab dude he kind of knocked him down with the palm of

his glove like it was a sweeping hook that looked like more of like a slap but damn that was hard but that nothing nothing nothing you know half-assed about that left hook here. Stays in front of him. Jab. Oh, just down the middle. Hooking shot. Down the middle. Hooking shot. He's all over the place, this guy.

Oh, look at that right hand, dude. That was unbelievable. Dude, that straight right hand was there all day for him. Damn. I mean, Smith was game, dude. Joe Smith later was saying the first time he got rocked he just could not get his legs under him again just couldn't equilibrium dude you get hit around that ear and boxing early you may last four or five rounds like joshua did against andy ruiz right but you

you're never the same you know right all right luke here's some celebrities in the wild check out utah jazz center rudy gobert at seven foot one trying out his hands your thoughts here luke is that sebastian fundora sure ain't stephen a smith we gotta zoom in here we gotta zoom in on this shit i mean he looks like this dude's an athlete no doubt about it god he is big as shit man yeah oh yeah oh yeah he is not bad not bad luke i mean he's got he's got he's got a little something there okay okay uh luke your boy cristiano ronaldo uh getting it done in the weight room but you know why luke everyone sent me this how are you going to defend your boy now i don't know dude how many elite pros have to write you and me which they've done telling you that real motherfuckers don't by the way i see his the penis outline i have to wear have to wear i'mers don't, by the way, I see the penis outline,

have to wear, have to wear, I'm sorry, don't ever wear gloves. I don't know why you keep making this a bit. You're like, I see you, Ronaldo's hog. I see you, Ronaldo. Yeah, dude, if you're a real dude, you don't wear gloves. That's just the beginning and the end of it. I've also said it fucks with your grip.

So if you're actually trying to work on your grip, take the gloves off. Luke, you know, NBA champion Steph Curry? Did you see that series, by the way? They beat my Celtics. It was painful, Luke. You know what I'm saying? I watched three of the games, yeah.

And they were all, no, one of them, the Celtics won. The second game, the Celtics won. Good turnout at that victory parade in San Fran, though, despite the DA and all that situation over there. Luke, let's talk about Steph Curry's wife, Aisha. What about the DA, BC? What about him? Dangerous times, Luke.

Aisha Curry in the weight room, Luke. Check the technique. We good with this? I haven't seen this. So that is a trap bar deadlift. But that's not a full deadlift. So she's lifting off of blocks. So she's lowering the range of motion.

Yeah, she's also in a uniform dress, Luke, a jersey there, so well done there, just the same. Aisha, Aisha, so glad to meet you, right? Who was that? That was Bobby Brown, and what was the group? ABC, another bad creation, right? Chris Rock, Red, Dave Rowe. Yeah, dude, I'm telling you you it's a nostalgic turn but i

found that cassette tape and i popped it in a couple years ago that thing still it still moves me luke right playground you have a cassette player i do i have one left i have one left yes wow even i don't have that shit yeah and now i'm a big vinyl guy though by the way my dad is arriving this this weekend luke to deliver me his vinyl collection that i was not allowed to touch growing up that i worship and idolized he was going to leave it to me but then he said you know what while i'm alive why don't i just give it to you look that's a big moment okay that's a big that's like a let me say something too that is a big moment um that's very nice of your dad by the way and smart of him too like someone will take good care of it dude i will tell you this i was digging through my uh front closet in my entrance

and i hadn't done that in a long time i found a bunch of old baseball cards so i'm gonna say this if you're a collector like your comic book guy from the simpsons go fuck yourself but if you actually have a kid and you and your kid collect i'll send them to you for free so email the show morningcombat at gmail.com you got to prove that you and your kid or at least your kid collects i want to send them to a kid i'm not sending you to some fucking stupid ass adult who goes to comic con and shits his pants or whatever at the side of you know uh patrick stewart i want an actual like nerdy kid who's into collecting cards. Email the show.

I'll send them to you for free. They're going to be all common cards. And there's a Jose Canseco rookie card in there, too. How about that? Do you have the Billy Ripken one with the swear on the handle? No, no. I have a Michael Jordan rookie card from Fleer back in the day in there as well.

Oh, shit. There's some decent cards in there. I also had Oil Can Boyd. Remember him? Oh, that guy loved the Boogar Shugar. Dennis Boyd, big time. Even though he's a Red Sox guy and I was a big Mets fan, I always loved that guy, Luke, because he was

living on the edge. You know what I'm saying? He sure was. All right, back to celebrities in the wild. Here's some elder abuse for you, Luke. Speaking of our nation's capital, here's the king of the nation's capital at the moment. Oh, God, this poor bastard.

Joe Biden on his bike in Delaware. It's like, Joe, you got to take your right foot out of the stirrup, homie. What are you doing there, you old bastard? Yeah, this didn't look good. This didn't look good, Luke. I mean, it's like, dude, it's like, you know, gas prices are skyrocketing and food's expensive. And this fucker can't even dismount a bike. Oh, God. I know, dude.

I mean, come on. I couldn't get one meal under 100 bucks in D.C. because of this guy, Luke, probably. All right. There you go. Let's go over to the Rain Man. When I say the Rain man, who do you think of Luke? Dustin Hoffman? No, dude. My, our, our nineties hero, Sean Kemp. Come on, dude. The one of the greatest in-game dunkers. Sorry. I thought you meant guy who had 10,000 kids when you said Sean Kemp, not rain man. Well, Luke, uh, remember he got fat during the lockout in the 98-99

season and never recovered? Unfortunately, Luke, look at him now. Look at him now, throwing out the first pitch at the Mariners game. Oh, Jesus, Sean. Sean's on that trick daddy diet, huh?

Yeah, he is. I mean, they had to show up with the medium jersey for him, too, Luke. That was not flattering. for folks who don't get the reference there bc and i went to what way and was it oh you know what it was the mayweather logan paul way in yes and it was in miami and trick daddy came out old trick has been not working out i can say that very comfortably you were actually nervous when you me and brendan shop were making fun of him on the air you were like whoa guys i don't know if i'm part of this here. I mean, Trick Daddy will still fuck you up, right? Yeah, actually, he sounded pretty good, too, but he's been even. All right, Luke, celebrities in the wild.

One of my favorite fighters of all time, Betch Cojera, enjoying retirement here with a saucy IG dance. Luke, this your thing? Did she get surgery or did she have, like, a filter on? I will not say stuff like that out loud luke i'm sorry check me on my patreon later dude i don't understand like let me ask you if you go through tiktok what i've noticed is it's just a bunch of women in tight clothing dancing in front of you yeah who are they dancing for because i gotta tell you i don't need any of

it probably our kids luke unfortunately right you know oh god yeah oh you're so right but i'm always like you know if you're i'm not saying she's a 10 but you know there's a bunch of 10s or eight nines and tens on on on tiktok it's like dude if you're a 10 just stand there and turn around you don't have to do shit else. Why are you doing a bit? Gee, I demand more. I'm like, make me a sandwich too, Luke, okay? Help me raise this sandwich. Listen, if they're going to sell it and I'm going to consume it as a consumer,

I have a right to give some consumer feedback, all right? Okay, okay. Big Betch Kahaya fan, Luke, always brought it, okay? Luke, let's go to Saudi Arabia. The Alexander Usyk-Anthony Joshua rematch is booked. I forgot the date. What is it, August something? August 20th. Yeah, same date as UFC 27.Anthony Joshua rematch is booked. I forgot the date. What is it, August something? August 20th.

Yeah, same date as UFC 278. That's going to be a big day, UFC 278. Yeah, Salt Lake City, the same night. This hopefully will air in the afternoon, but here's the face-off, Luke. The size difference still pretty big, Luke, still pretty big there. Did they talk about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi? That did not come up on the questions there for old Eddie Hearn. You mean the media in Saudi Arabia didn't bring it up?

I wonder why. I cannot imagine. Look, I hope AJ under Robert Garcia is going to bring the fight to Usyk. It's going to be an interesting fight if he does. Very interesting. All right? Well, here we go. Face forward.

Yeah. Bro, Eddie Hearn. I always forget how tall Eddie Hearn is. Dude, 6'7". No one remembers that. Dude, yeah. No, no, no. Because Josh was only 6'6".

Dude, Eddie Hearn goes by 6'7". I asked him on the air. He says 6'7", dude. And Max Holloway's arms are shrinking. Yes, indeed, indeed. All right. Luke, let's go to the knockouts of the week. We start with former Mike Tyson opponent back in his boxing days, Julius Francis,

now a parking lot attendant outside of Box Park Wembley as a security guard. Luke, Julius Francis is in the black right there on the left. He's the guy on the left of the screen you just saw briefly. He kind of had a big belly. And he's doing security at Wembley Box Park here. And the fellow you want to watch closely is what? The guy in the blue cap? Yeah.

So watch him. The guy who's the boxer is the one who's now walking around to the back with the security vest on. You see him to the right of your screen. Now he's gone. And my man in the blue just rolled up on him and pow oh god that look wow that is uh i mean you know was that necessary luke i don't know okay so i'm so glad you asked that was it necessary no was it justified entirely dude do not walk up aggressively on a security guy outside of a bar they will

fuck your world up are you speaking from experience as an ex-bouncer luke or is there no such thing as ex-bouncer i mostly diffuse situations or like kept people safe i didn't like jack people's jaw but i saw plenty of other guys do it plenty of dude you cannot they'll they'll get they get big heads from drinking they get thrown out and they want to test themselves and it's the same onion article every time area man overestimates fighting ability by five thousand percent dude don't do it this guy everyone's like he was just walking watch it again he kind of walks up and he's talking to him like that and he got his shit rocked for it i don't i don't blame the bouncer even a little bit it kind of looked like remember that fan in the pistons jersey rumbled onto the court on our test at the palace

brawl they kind of sized each other up and then they both threw combos look at him kind of walking aggressively at him and he puts his he brings his hand up to put it as well dude fuck that guy no i just mean this guy's got got a lethal weapon in that right hand luke and he wow he brought it he did bring it okay you know what That guy in the blue learned a real valuable lesson about where he stands in the pecking order that day. That will help him in the future. Yeah, that is true. Luke, that is true. Hopefully you and I don't

catch those same receipts. No, but I'm not going to. If I get thrown out of a bar, dude, you know how many times I've been thrown out of a bar peacefully? Like, that's not new. Also, your choices for knockout of the week luke includes this uh punk outside the train if you watch closely here uh-oh what the fuck are these trying to give someone the finger oh that's great That is great. Let's go to virtual reality goggles for our next knockout of the week contender, Luke.

I'm sure everybody who's ever tried this has done this at least once. Oh, wow. Wow. It works. Yep. Confirmed. It works. There it is, Luke.

Indeed. Yeah. There you go. Fuck that kid. That's great. Let's go over to the sidewalk the sidewalk luke you get two drunk guys together anyone can anything can happen how about this for a contender for knockout of the week uh-oh are we about to are we about to watch cormier jones too here what is oh shit

look at him protect the drink though i know my man My man's trying hard to save that Guinness. Oh, God. He got splattered, dude. He's like, yo, I can't just pour out this Boddington. Wow. That was probably at like 8 a.m., too, knowing those guys, Luke. All right. Also, how about this? This is probably your knockout of the week.

And they got two with one stone, Luke, or maybe two stone, or maybe I was two stone. Look at this. Damn. This looks like low-level bareuckle fighting luke i don't even know if that's a thing because isn't it all low level you mean like just like just regular old bare knuckle yeah it's like this looks like gross pornography oh wait yeah well yeah that Oh, God, that is terrible. Yeah. Let's go, though, to our joke of the week.

Luke, let's hear from this old bastard. I said to a girl one night, I said, you've got a kind chin. And she kept looking at me, and she said, what do you mean you've got a kind chin? I said, the kind of chin I'd like to risk me balls on. Looks like I'll vape to that yep yeah yep i will that's that's every guy in the that's every old man in the gym uh bathroom right yes that's everybody except they're naked and walking around with shoes on am i right dallas yes? Yes, indeed. Luke, rate this flex. A lot of people try weird shit in terms of lifting videos. How about barefoot deadlift against everyone's worst nightmare, the loose Legos, Luke?

Dude, I can't stand people who do this shit. Fuck this guy. You do know that's a pain. That is a pain unlike any other, Luke. You know that, right? That's an outrageous pain. Dude, Instagram and social media have turned lifting into like circus performing,

but not even the good kind, just the jackass variety, and it's not all that interesting. Fuck these guys. Yeah, let's keep it going. All right, rate this tat, Luke. This was so weird, I had to include it. I hope it's not real.

Your thoughts. You've got to be shitting me. Someone did not do this, did they? Are you fucking kidding? Yikes. Yeah, just did it, Luke. uh all right let's keep that let's i'm seriously stunned looking at that like i'm actually shocked that someone went through with that somebody got their 15 seconds luke okay you know what though i will say this my man's toes are

better space than mine mine are all fucked up so are, Luke, but that's because I'm a real man. No, it's just because you are dirty and you have fungus, you old piece of shit. No, those tell the story of the miles I've logged, Luke. Up and down, valleys and peaks. Oh yeah, in khakis, motherfucker. Right now we're peeking at the beacon, Luke.

Let's go to our fans of the week. Check out these young boys behind Reggie Miller at the NBA game, Luke. Stop sitting on your AeroPlan points and get big savings so you can be somewhere you actually want to be, like on a beach. Right now, you can save up to 25% in AeroPlan points when you book a trip to one of 180 plus Air Canada destinations destinations worldwide so stop sitting on your next trip and start saving on one don't miss out your chance to save in points ends february 23rd book at air canada.com conditions apply i don't know if coach sandusky no who got a hold of this look i don't know if we can legally show would know who got a hold of this.

Look, I don't know if we can legally show that, but I cannot believe you just made that joke. What I was going to say was this was also me at 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 years old. Yeah, you've had a sordid past, Luke. We all know about that. Let's go to this fan, though. He may be our real fan of the week. Check him out behind the rugby player. Bro, these rugby players are jacked as shit.

Yeah. That's just a shoeie from his own vessel. Damn. Respect. Is there a bigger difference between a rugby player and a rugby fan than this shot right here? Yeah. Yeah, that's great.

That's great. All right, let's get out of this. Let's keep it going. Summertime, Luke, you know that means pool fails only. Check out this female influencer trying to catch a snapshot amid chaos, Luke. What are they spraying them with? Probably expensive champagne. There you go.

There. Have a drink. Hopefully she caught the shot before she fell in, Luke. There you go there have a drink hopefully she caught the shot before she fell in luke there you go oh let's go over anytime they put a trampoline next to a pool luke it's like they're setting the stage to end up in this segment uh first we'll check their their skin inflection and then we'll see the result luke oh jesus yeah if you feel like we've we've played this one before it's because there's a few like it but it still hurt luke wow bro enjoy yo i've never seen someone with that much of a boost have that little amount of ups also enjoy your above ground pool all right uh let's go to the diving board luke for our final failure by the water this week

oh oh this heavy set gentleman oh fuck off oh yeah there you go there you go all right keeping it moving he learned a valuable lesson in physics that day i would say this would probably cost more than your $85 variety, but you know that Dubai barber that I follow on Instagram, the alternate Luke Thomas was back in his chair this week. Luke, I'm going to put this guy on every week until you get this thin. Check out this handsome devil. I know.

He is way more handsome. I mean, that's not saying much, but he is. Dude, that could be you. Serious question. How much do you think that haircut cost? Oh, $4,000 at least yeah yeah that's that's that's a that's a ridiculously expensive haircut this guy's like the salt bay of of uh barbers yeah serious question how handsome could he make me and i realize he's working with a gob of shit but i'm saying what could how much could he improve me could he take me from a four to a 5, you think? You ever see the movie Soul Man, Luke?

No. Oh, all right. With C. Thomas Howell. I think he could take you pretty high, Luke, okay? But you've got to commit. You've got to commit to cardio. Are you ready? I'm ready.

Not really, but yes. All right. T-shirt of the week, Luke, is going to go to this dirty old bastard. You guessed it. Let's zoom in here. He's so casual about it too, Luke, right? Dude, look at him rolling around, scratching his gross elbows.

He's like, I got an itchy boil over here. You can sit on that too. Alright, let's keep it going. Luke, when you exercise out of the gym, sometimes you get hurt. You got to be careful here. Let's go to the bathroom box jump attempt. Fuck this kid.

Yup. Yup. And, of course, everybody's favorite, the BMX bike in the bar routine, Luke. Yeah, keep jumping up on surfaces known for collecting water jackass yeah oh yeah dude i can't believe he's white bc it seems so out of character luke remember back to the future when the guy changed his past and then his brother started disappearing from the photo it's kind of similar to my to the people in this category luke let's start with the uh let's start with the uh the dance floor remember this move luke yep eat it

oh shit yeah nice college apartment fuck face and let's continue to the bartender luke a great bartender is like an nfl referee you never knew they were there luke right let's continue to the bartender. Luke, a great bartender is like an NFL referee. You never knew they were there, Luke, right? Let's see this. Oh, no. Oh, what the fuck? They keep the kegs in the basement, Luke, apparently. Bro, there's a bar.

What was it? It's near St. Mark's Place near the Bowery in Manhattan. It used to be an old speakeasy. They haven't really changed it. So when you order a beer, the beers are next door. They're not at the actual place. And they come from the floor of Belding's. They open the floor, and they pull out your bottle of beer,

and they hand it to you. I forget the name of it, but it was actually pretty cool. That's a different take on the Asian toilets, just being a hole in the floor luke that's not just that's not just asian well turkey is in both asia and europe but on the europe side i've seen it there too so we'll be clear it's an interesting way to do it luke it wouldn't be for me though it's not my i told you the story dude i went to one of these places and they were charging one lira which is like their currency, for toilet paper, but the catch was they didn't have toilet paper. They were

tearing sheets out of a phone book and handing you that. And I was like, I'll just shit my pants. Thank you, sir. Have a great day. That's great. Dial G for Grundle, Luke. Clean that shit up. Okay. That's the shit. No, we got one more piece of shit. Let's see what it is

here, Luke. It's an oldie but goodie. It's the pinata mess. You know what's coming next, Luke. That's the shit. No, we got one more piece of shit. Let's see what it is here, Luke. It's an oldie but goodie. It's the pinata mess. You know what's coming next, Luke. Someone's balls or some kid's head. Where's Ryan Bader when you need him, right? Ryan is an old nutsack. Enjoy your gender reveal party, you dumb piece of shit. There it is.

All right. Hey, Luke, you want to push fan subs to friday or you want to do it now we can push them to friday if you want give the audience a little more time to put some in because we gave them today luke just an outstanding comeback show from vacation right we certainly did we certainly did i mean the the good news is i'm here i'm back we'll be in vegas next week international fight week the bad news is low Luke, I'm going back on vacation at the end of July. So all those people that shit on you, they're coming for me, Luke. Well, the only reason they shit on me is because you have somehow manufactured some idea.

I actually, of you, me, and our head producer, I take the least amount of vacation of all of us. Yeah, but that's not fair because our producer likes to vacation every weekend, so that's not fair because our our producer likes to vacation every weekend so that's not fair that's true our lead producer i'm like hey what are you doing on friday he's like not working on this motherfucking show bitch he's he's he's in our chat right now furiously typing away yes yes he is yes yes we love you uh michael thank you very much uh luke that's it though for this week okay today i mean today that's it but we've probably got great bonus content like a resume review and some other shit so let's remind the folks we do have bonus content we

have the max holloway resume review i'm not it's supposed to be coming out i want to say tomorrow but soon we're actually in the resume review we promised that we were going to watch the volkanovski max fights one and two together, score them and talk about them. That's coming out in just either tomorrow or in a matter of days. Be on the lookout for that. So that's going to be coming out as well. Plus, as I indicated, my Eblen interview, my Sabatello interview, they're already up.

You can check those out. Let's see. Also, BC, let's remind the audience one more time. Hold on. Hold on. Luke, the best response on that, on that Sabatello interview was when he was like, Jesus Christ, you're a sadist. You were like, you didn't know which turn. You don't know where to go next.

Luke. It was just, he backed. He was just like, I'm going to torture this motherfucker. I'm going to rip his heart out. I'm going to fucking take his kids. I'm going to take his property. I'm going to move into his house and eat out of his fridge and not even thank him.

I'm like, settle down. Settle down. And we're going to make sweet love. Yeah, yeah. It was intense, Luke. I'm going to turn this guy into a cuck. I was like, yo. Time out. Time out.

It's just a fight, bro. Okay. But I want to remind folks, not this Friday. Friday, July 1st. If you are going to be in Las Vegas, join us. Go to the UFC 276 weigh-ins, then come hang out with LT and BC at the Beer House. Beer House, right outside the T-Mobile Arena. We'll start at about 5 o'clock. We're going to do a live show, special guests, spin the wheel, the whole nine

yards. It'll be a ton of fun. Beer House, Beer House, Beer House, Beer House, 5 p.m. local time on Friday, July 1st. Can't say that enough. Let's see. Showtime.com is the label that pays. You can go to Showtime.com, get a 30-day free trial. If you like, you can keep it. If not, you can pound sand.

It will allow you to watch the very good Bellator card on Friday, Bellator 282. Let's see. Email the show, morningcombat.gmail.com for fan subs and Dead Wrong. We'll have both of those on Friday's show. And morningcombat.store to get the merch that BC's wearing, to get the merch that I'm wearing, or whatever it is, the merch that you would like to wear.

BC, any final thoughts? No, but thank you to the great fans of the show who back us through everything, highs and lows. We hope you can make it to Vegas. We hope to open mouth, kiss you, hug you, whatever you're in the mood for. But thank you folks for tuning in, and we, hug you, whatever, whatever you're in the mood for. But thank you, folks, for tuning in. And, you know, we're back with this.

The best thing. This is your best option. Talk yourself into that other bullshit. This is the best thing you got going. Love it or hate it. Right. Right. Luke, I mean, I'm not trying to be, you know, the awards speak for themselves.

I don't care. I just I'm just I'm just I'm just arting. Right. You know, I don't care who watches Luke. Right. I really don't because I'm going to be doing this in my basement, whether there's a crowd or not, Luke. Okay.

Okay. All right. For Malka, for BC, for Showtime, for everyone involved on the show and CBS Sports and the whole nine yards. That's Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. This has been Morning Combat. We'll talk to you guys again on

Friday. And until then, may all of your gains be loyal.