UFC 300 Recap, Jorge Masvidal Interview, Haney vs. Garcia Preview | Full Episode | Morning Kombat

Published Apr 15, 2024, 7:44 PM

WHAT A WEEKEND! The boys are back, live, to recap everything that happened during a historic UFC 300 event. Max Holloway's incredible, career defining moment. Pereira's quick knockout win over Hill. Zhang's simple victory. Sterling's debut W at 145. Bo Nickel stumbles but continus his undefeated start. Arman Tsarukyan showed real discipline in a closely-contested bout against Charles Oliveira. Plus, an interview with Jorge Masvidal and a preview of this weekends Haney vs. Garcia mega-boxing fight. 

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Revee revee dalks. 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 this Morning Combat. Yeah, we need a new intro. I think it's time. I think it's time. Hi everybody, how are you doing? On this fifteenth day of April twenty twenty four was supposed to be the beginning of the UFC Anti Trust Trial.

Well, oops, hey, I'm not here to hate on the Ultimate Fighting Championship today. Okay, I'm here to lather on the love thing.

Not today. Welcome everyone, it's time for Morning Combat. We so appreciate you joining us here in our New York City studios. My name is Luke Thomas. That's Brian Campbell, fresh from his florification. I have to tell you. You do look rested. Your spirit seems lifted. You don't have much of a tan I don't really tan well.

I think it's my you know, my cross breeding Lithuanian French Canadian upbringing in the way.

That la tanwell. Do you mean sat inside with the ac all day?

No, no, no, no, I I do the beaches on the Gulf side of Florida are so not Florida. They're wonderful, you know what I mean? I could you know? I could? I could stay there for a few days. I could you know? I did?

You did you know?

I won't go as far as living there, though, thank you? Yeah, by the way, I missed the bit. I'm so grateful you guys let me on the show last week. I mean, you know who takes a vacation during UFC three hundred. My kids do, So you're gonna like it. My mom had all these temporary tattoos, so I put all these giant dream catchers on my arm and I was going to reveal how Florida I had become completely forgot about the gimmick and damn it.

All right, maybe next time. We have a lot to get to. Today. UFC three hundred was on Saturday, easily one of the best and frankly most important shows in UFC history. We're gonna get to every element of that. But that is not all because this is also Hainy Garcia fight week. We're gonna set the table for that event and BC twelve thirty. Yeah, via zoom, via zoom, We're gonna have Jorge masmital here. Now, you were there Friday in Las Vegas. You hosted how many are there?

Four or five work stops on the Baddest Tour. We'll be back Tuesday night in Times Square here in New York. But I'm happy to get him on the show. We're going to talk about his June first boxing match and the big rematch against Na Diaz and really just his takes in general. On UFC three hundred, the return of Connor McGregor, which we will also get into. And I have a very very good batch of shit coming your way, okay, And.

We'll do bc'spcs as well as always. If you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. If you're listening to your favorite audio podcast platform, you can give us a nice review there. And for everyone watching us on the DraftKings Network, happy to be a part of that as well. BC. You can follow us on various social media outlets. We'll put that up on the screen limits there. It is Morning Combats everywhere, El Thomas News, blah blah blah, B Campbell, all that good stuff is there. We do have merch. I'm going to get some Morningcombat dot store. You can use a Live ten promo. It's always up because probably right you can probably you know, we don't even know if that's true, but it's probably true.

I mean, r J, I do talk to that man. You can reach out to him, or I'll reach out to him for you. Anyway, ordered the ship all right, morning Combat Dot Store, Luke. I want to shout out Sam from the UH I got mentioned. I don't get recognized in the wild as aggressively as you do. But Sam at the Charlotte Airport came up to me as I was charking down a bagel and and you know, he was like, yo you. Brian Campbell was like, yea mother lock, you know, and then we like, we like, they're like a man. No, I'm kidding anyway, that's cool. And by the way, I know we can be the UFC watch dogs at times and we can be critical. And I set it off the top Saturday night reignited everything we love about this game, everything we love about the UFC, their ability to promote, their ability to make a card feel gigantic, their ability to have one banger after another. It was so pure. So I want to shout out Dana here from the bonuses to the different trunks that Max and uh poet Tom were able to wear, which was fun and creative to the crowd atmosphere, to it was just really it.

Was a good crowd.

Cross the board an absolute slam dunk, and I could not fall asleep Saturday night, And that's how it should be after a great paper view where you're like, you're just wired in near up till five am and you want to be right. I love that way. It was back, Luke, where the hell was that it was?

Back? Oh well, don't worry, We're back to the Apex soon, bitches, So enjoy all and last. But nevertheless, you're right. Let's start actually with our UFC three hundred conversation BC. I want to start with Max Holloway, but just before I do, if I made UFC three hundred very basic question, did it live up to the hype?

It might have actually exceeded it, even with when we were being hyper critical of the main event, which made it seem like they didn't have the right plans in place and the coal main event, which just kind of seemed out of place until we watched the fight and was absolutely badass because both women sold out ridiculously. That you had the pinnacle point with Max that we're obviously going to hit hard. But you had so many stories up and down when you have a card that's this deep, and by the way, two hundred was pretty damn deep on paper too, but it didn't feel like this one did. Where fight to fight the electricity just seems to transfer. We had so many big finishes and breakout moments that this played out like an A plus. This is peak Mma. I mean, I know that there's cards that maybe felt bigger coming in if you had Connor McGregor or I always say two of five and two seventeen in New York not only felt grand, they fricking delivered. We can all have our favorite card, whether it's Brock and Carwin, or it's one ninety six or you know, two forty nine or in the pandemic, We've all got these ones that just recaptured that moment. This recaptured the moment, like I said, as great as any I can remember. It just felt great to see the apex of this great sport in this promotion that I'm going to go a plus across the board in.

Terms of how it absolutely you know me, I tend to downgrade things. People give things a B. I give it a B minus. You give it a C. I give it a C minus. I'm gonna agree with you a plus, which isn't to say that everything about it worked. No, not everything about it worked, but A enough things worked, and B of those things. It was historic and it was the right level of magic.

Gdy afterwards, and I was right there with him.

You know, I haven't seen him that excited since the previous night's Powerslap event. Is the most I seen him excited since Friday. All right, with that in mind, BC, let's actually get the first question going here, if we can. I pitch it to you. It is as follows. We're actually not gonna start with the main event today. We're gonna start with what I think is and BC agrees the biggest story coming out of UFC three hundred and that is the ascension of Max Blessed Holloway. BC. My question is as follows, A stunning one punch KO at the last second over Justin Gaechee clearly stole the show. We'll talk about where it ranks in terms of all time KOs in a minute. What does it do right now for his career?

It gives him a second expansive prime. And I know you can argue and say, well, look, really he started off already in this reinventor Max is the ultimate reinventor, and that's what the greats do. We talked about that coming in, but since that trilogy with Volkanosky, he was already on the upkick of sort of this second run, the second major run. As we're all maybe rightfully wrong, I don't know in hindsight saying, you know, Alwa's going to take too much damage. They woke him up in this fight and what he ultimately delivered. He was already a first ballot Hall of Famer. He was already on that short list of the most deeply beloved fighters in this sport's history, the Randy Coutures, the Chuck Ladel's. I mean, he's in that lineage, and he's obviously one of the greatest fighters and arguably right you know, top one or two in his division's history. This put him on a viral level. This was Anderson Silva shit, what he did, Like you're trying to basically compare this not only to the greatest knockouts in history, but the greatest individual UFC moments when they show the Who's Bob O'Reilly leading into the pay per view and that great video montage there. It's like, what are the moments that always peak in the pinnacle. It's like Mad Hugh's slamming Trig in the rematch, It's Rona getting head kicked by Holly, like this was that, and then some this with Silva front kicking Bellford. This with Silva making Forest Griffin look like an amateur boxer. This was one of those moments that was so viral that it becomes the career defining stamp of who this guy was. Because it wasn't just that he overcame the odds when somewhere wondering if he was going in the wrong direction. It wasn't just that he went out of his way to deliver the Eric Morales of two thousand and five in the first Manny Pacio fight, when he was also up on the cards in the twelfth round and said, basically, I'm gonna turn south, Paul Manny, let's meet in the middle and let's just brawl because I fricking love it, because my waveos are so large. So Max has the ultimate viral moment, completely redeems himself again at the totally elite level where now we're talking should he fight for the lightweight titles, should he fight for the featherway, should he defend the BMF belt, or should he just like seek out Connor and get the biggest pay per view you can get.

He's already a big star.

In in our hearts and he just doubled down on that at a time at thirty two where he's consistently proving over the last three fights that he's still that guy he is, you know, I am or whatever that phrase is. What was awesome he said afterwards. So what does this mean for Max? This was immortality? I mean he was already there, right, He already accomplished so much. He knocked out Josi, although twice he had that really long wind streak. He's done so many great things. But this is almost like the key that gets you into the door, maybe not to the you know, not to the top five greatest in the upper room, but to another level of stardom, historical significance and just virality. Does that make sense from a viral just from something where he might have just doubled down on his celebrity in one moment and it hit all the boxes. It was the most badass thing you've ever seen. It was the most viral thing you've ever seen. It was so rejuvenating for his career. I don't think you can go too far right now and trying to say what this moment meant, what it made you feel, and just how great of a representation of the sport, which Max already always was as a great ambassador. This was his silver moment, and very few people in the history of the sport can have Anderson silver moments, and he just absolutely delivered on that.

Yeah, I have a few responses. I think I'm mostly I mean almost entirely in agreement with you. I mean, first thing i'd say is, I don't think I've seen a career reinvention like this this successful anyway since Randy Coutour.

And didn't I ask you, even though it wasn't perfect comparable, I said, maybe we could have a Couture versus Sylvia moment. Didn't expect this, Luke didn't expect this.

Which was also a five round beat down. Now there was no stoppage in that one, but it had been knocked out by Chuck Lddell. He had retired. He came back, got an immediate title shot and there he goes. So for Max Holloway after losing three times to Alexander Volkanowski, and we were there that night that happened to you have two international fight weeks ago. We just didn't know what was left of Max's career. He looked like he had been so retiring, right, We looked like he had. He looked like he had been solved and not finished, but finished as an elite contender. Wow, that was extremely premature and not correct. That's the first thing I'd say. Second of all, that knockdown that looked like a knockdown, like his knee touched. But for fight metric purposes, there has to be an establishment of a ground position for the knockdown to count. So Max all the way still not been knocked down. I want to point that out, which is also incredible, But you spoke to something about what it meant. That is either one of the best not just fight finishes but US moments in the entire organization's history, or it's the number one now among fight finishes. I would say, like Joaquin Buckley's win over Impl Kasang and I as a pure acrobatic knock out I want.

To ask you how you mix history with that, because you could just pick it's easily picked Connor over all, though you could pick the front kick from Silver. There's I think the knockout of on Overing by Nganu is the most brutal in history. Terry Edam the spin kick. There's so many ways. How do you condense that to say which one is better than the other.

So for me, I can't think of it purely on KO terms, because he baited Geechee to come exchange with him and then viciously Kaoto. I'm like he Kyoto guy who threw away his own defense. Of course he did too, that's part of the exchange. It's hard for me to rank that as like the best KO, but as an MMA moment, let's just say it out loud. It's on par with the Showtime kick. It's on par with Randy Coutur with that inside light kick, in that overhead punch and dropping Tim Sylvia where the crowd roars in delight. It's on par with brock Lesner reversing fortunes and coming back. It's on par with Nate choking out Connor, Nate choking out Connor. It's on par with Jorge Massdoal, who will have later on the show kneeing Ben Askron. Actually, I would say in terms of its size and significance, it's bigger. But certainly when you think of the top ten fifteen twenty MMA moments where you knew exactly where you were, how it made you feel, how it put you on a place in time, and to your point, utterly transformative for his career. I want to say something. The belt does not make the fighter. We always have known that in boxing. We now know it to be true in MMA. But because of what Max did in this fight, and because it was so incredible, he has now transferred more relevancy and legitimacy, and to a degree, I think appetite for BMF fights or any kind of BMF fight he's going to be in. What he achieved was so transcend it. He actually lifted this belt out of, you know, a promotional kind of gimmick into something much more real, much more meaningful, and he proved BC Because I didn't know. The big knock on him we saw on the Poorrier fight wasn't that he wasn't game enough. He was just physically overmatched.

First of all, short Camp too short. Camp didn't put on the size.

First of all, he didn't just knock out Justin Gatchee. He thoroughly beat him even if that had never happened. This is this is the rebirth and ascension of Max Holloway. This is him declaring to the world I have yet another chapter, and in fact, BC it might be his best.

A second act and a legitimate grand second act where it's not just the ability to headline paper views, like we said, against anyone BMF celebrity lightweight title, featherweight title. It's a This moment was a crystallization of exactly what makes Matt so special. You could argue it's a crystallization of exactly what makes this sport so great to watch and so unpredictable. But Luke, I want to ask you. The reason why I compare it to Silva is because Silva had video game moments that made us go like, is that fixed? Because I've never seen that what he did to Forest Griffin that time in Philadelphia, just like I don't I don't know if that was real. I can never seen it. Is this the greatest video game moment? Because of the UFC one ninety nine Ricardo lamis reoccurrence from Max of saying right here, right now, which we all love when people commit to that, but not everyone commits to going for broken that moment in boxing or MMA, they both committed to going for broke, and he had a walk off that's actually on par with the greatest walkoff of all time, which is, yeah, you're Rodriguez in the twenty fifth anniversary night, you know, down on the scorecards in a round five with one second to go against Zombie. Is this the greatest video game moment of all time? Where it's just like, that's not human?

What just happened? Hard to say no, Hard to say no. The one difference is I am noticing boxing fans who are like, this isn't this isn't ah, this is they're just swinging wildly. First of all, you can get people to do that something similar in boxing at times, so this idea like it doesn't happen there is kind of crazy. But more to the point, it's just here's the thing about it. When when Anderson Silva front kicked Vitor in the face, there was a certain kind of acrobatic beauty to it. This didn't have that. But what binds this moment with the silver front kick is that it's an expression of their fighting personality. Anderson was the magician who could just pull off things you never thought possible. Max is the guy like meet me in the fucking center, now, bite down on the mouthpiece and just go. It's everything you love about him. Of course, of course is he a technician as well. The first four and a half round spoke to what a technician he is. But the last ten seconds right here is such an expression of not only his personality, but what that title is supposed to be about, what that exchange was supposed to be about, and what fight fans love about guys like this.

Like that was your MMA climax moment. I I want to close and mention a couple of things. One, the friendship between the two of them afterwards was gotty. Ward esked to see that so instantly.

The love, the.

Respect, the backstage videos of them talking to each other on FaceTime and in person was amazing. Justin Gaegee is not going to rightfully get recognized that he should for the chin and the dog, I mean for him to be to have a broken nose at the end of round one on that back kick to be just dominated in around two or three where he's a step behind, he can't breathe, he can't see. I mean, it's just just a mess. And then come back in almost knockdown Max and win round four across the board and be in striking position in round five to potentially do something big. Very humans could ever pull that off. But I do want to ask you, in almost a Devil's Advocate way, if that perfectly landed backkick at the end of round one that seemingly broke Eache's nose and changed the momentum, if that didn't happen, what does the rest of that fight look like.

I don't think it's a relevant question.

I'm not saying it's something that there's an asterisk. I'm just asking you that was a perfect moment that seemed to open up the door for max Is brilliance because he wasn't getting the firepower coming back for a good stretch of that.

I mean, here's the thing you talk to fighters all the time again. I spoke to Ryan Hall about this and how he tore his thumb off of his hand. I mean, obviously not through the skin, but underneath within like the first minute of fighting Elliot Taporia just just a freak injury. We've seen things like that happen. I'm not saying he would have beaten them but for that, But nevertheless, he told me in the middle of the fighter's like, fuck, I gotta fight this guy, and my fucking thumb can't close, Like it just happens in these fights. In this kind of a way he threw it, by the way he threw the spinning back kicks from either stance the entire fight over and over again, which was pretty incredible to me. It's like, would the fight have gone differently but for that maybe a little bit. Certainly there is a case to be made. I gotta tell you, after what I saw for twenty five minutes, Max Holloway was not going to be beaten on that night, not by justin Gaategs. You're not by a lot of people in that way.

I SA what was his win between the Arnold Allen and Zombie one in this one yeah year, yeah year, right, which he took big damage and showed I just think I feel like there's a I don't know what any other way to say a ninety ninety six Michael Jordan Vibe right where he went away to baseball. He came back in the ninety five playoffs, he got handled by Orlando. He wasn't fully himself, his body wasn't right.

Whatever.

He went back to the drawing board in his early thirties and basically said, no, I still end that guy, and in nineteen ninety six, I'm going to fucking prove it to you and win seventy two games and sweep the Magic in the Eastern Conference Championships and just dominate. That spirit has been there the last few fights. I don't remember an mma where I've seen that exact spirit in this circumstance. We've had comebacks before, we've had dominant runs from people, but there was just that veteran guile where he just pulled back and said, no, I'm not fucking done. I'm not even close to done, and I'm going to show you guys once again. Hey, BC, I know how many times you've doubted me, and you're in my career. Don't try to think because you picked me against Gegee that you're suddenly on board with me. I know that mac I was wrong the whole time, but his ability to just say like, no fucking way and turn it right back around. It's almost Jordan Nest, you know what I mean. It was almost like that, and it's incredible. That's that's the best part about covering the sport, when you get involved in the storyline of someone's life, in their personality. And obviously Mac's along with Poorier, along with you can name a few others, are just one of the most likable guys that we've ever covered in this game. But for him to have that extra gear, it's it's Kobe like, it's Jordan like, it's it's mfor like Luke. You know, he is the baddest m effort, But that that was a motherfucker that was in there.

He leads in statistics throughout Mixed Martial Arts in a number of ways. Here's one of my favorite ones. I found out the other day. He is the only fighter in UFC history to have sixteen different fights where he landed one hundred significant strikes ready for this. The next closest has ten. He is the leader in all times significant strikes. The differential he has between strikes landed and strikes absorbed is shocking. He is one of a kind and now he is back to back one punch KOs in his fights. One at one forty five, one at one fifty five. Max Holloway is reborn. There is simply no two ways about it. And if he got a title shot at one fifty five, I'd be okay with it. If he got a title shot at one forty five, I'd be okay with it. It looks like one forty five might happen sooner to pour you versus Halloween. I'm an early read.

My early read is I want to ask you, being a guy who's represented early come on board, said look to Porio is the next dude, and he's going to be there, and he did things to vault that that I didn't necessarily fully expect. Did you feel like And we're gonna get to the tweet that Taporio just put out, which is bold and strong, but I want to ask you first his reaction at ringside, which original cage side. Originally it was like shocked, as everyone does, because it was a walk off KO and it wasn't insane when Max said, hey man, I'll fight to Porio, I'll go to Spain whatever. When they flashed back to Ilia, it didn't seem like you wanted it. Tell me what you felt in that.

I think a lot of people are projecting. I think is what happened. I think here's what happened.

Look, you look like I'm not gonna say this, but he kind of looked like an whole bitch in that moment. Now the tweet cover again.

Here we go. Hey, put put the camera on me. Hey, Hey, to Poria wasn't very funny at that press conference, and he got his lunch money taken. I wonder what's gonna happen in the fight. He's gonna lose badly. Oh how'd that fucking go? For all you Jabbroni's out there, listen to me. This is this is the wrong time for anybody to be fighting Ilio to Poria por He is gonna win that fight. I love Max, Max just ninety six.

Jordan's like half the division and the fight I forgot was which was virtuo.

So they can tell you. I don't think people really understand how good great, put the camera back on me. Put the camera back on me. There's a bunch of you who have decided to learn about the Ilia Taporia experience, the hard way not living in Spain. Right now you're about to find out. Here's my here's my reaction. My reaction was when I saw the video at first, he was like kind of muted or you know, just to a degree sheepish is how it looked for a second. I don't think that's going to have even an iota of relevance by the time.

I'm not projecting that he was scared. I just felt like to him, he didn't calculate in that that was that that moment was possible, and that maybe he's thinking, O'Malley and super fight.

I still remember he was like, yeah, Max is done. I'm not going to fight this guy. I'm gonna fight Connor. This was a bit of a wake up call that like, you've got some work to do. It one forty, no doubt about it.

And this fight would be massive. Let's please Long Island Luke in the back throat of the tweet from Tiporio, which is strong here it is, congrats on your performance, Max, respect your story and everything you achieved with a beautiful family. Hopefully we're gonna share the octagon before the end of the year. I like that, and trust me, he said, you're gonna feel something that you never felt before. I will be the first one to take your lights out and added the biblical verse Philippians four thirteen. Max responded and said, it's all love, let's do it. Blah blah blah. How big is this fight?

Huge? Massive, absolutely gigantic. You could put it in Spain. You could put it in the United States, you could put it in Canada.

Jerry World, allegiant, you could put it.

I don't know if the UFC just doesn't seem to want to do stuff like that. So, like to answer your question, it's like, dude, me and BC saw Spence versus Ugas there, like, yeah, you could do Taporia versus Vulk or uh, excuse me, Toporia versus Holloway there. I just don't think the UFC has designs on that. But when he beat Vulk, I didn't know how this was gonna go. You were like, well, let's see how he gets through that experience. Dude. His face, Max's face after this fight was barely scratched. It was barely scratched. He was the one who was handing out the ass again for virtually the entire twenty five minutes. Again. The fourth round, for sure, for Getchee was a good round, but the rest of it it was just all Max and Max forget, don't forget. In the fifth round he rocked Justin geigee. Again. This fight is huge, and if to Portia can go in there and do what I think he will probably do, which is win, obviously, it's gonna blow his start him up as well. Let me let me be, let me put the reverse. If I am wrong and Max go's in there and wins, that would be one of the most legendary fucking things I've ever seen in my life.

I mean, he had already was what he did to getche. You mentioned his face. I don't want to talk about his face. I want to talk about Luke Thomas's face. We all remember when Dustin Portier finished Connor McGregor in the rematch and we had the ski pole moment and it was great. Luke, you lost your ship on the Luke Thomas Live show. You and shut out Othello in the background.

Here.

Yeah, here's what the people saw that we're watching live from Justin.

Let's do it.

Ship.

See.

I thought you were reacting to another technical difficulty that.

I could have been what you could say whatever you want about me. You can't say I'm not a five fan.

No, that's pure That's why people love it because it's pure and weird, but it's pure, and that's why people definitely dig it.

I'm sitting there gesticulating, like gesticulating, yes, gesticulating like a like a fucking Colombian vaginato singer differences, But seriously, I didn't my favorite.

I'm like, what my favorite thing about Columbia? It turns out our visionato, so that that's very It's.

The type of it's a type of like country.

Uh.

But I like, literally was so overwhelmed with emotion. I had to take off my glasses and I didn't know what to do.

When you say you were rock hard with emotion, would you say I was?

I felt electric? Cugeuse. Some people thought you looked like you were on a roller coaster.

I think you had a magic mountain downstairs. But that's neither here nor there. Let's keep it rolling because we have such a loaded show. Do you have any other topics? Reallygarded to Max Sarah.

We could talk forever, but we got stuffy.

Topic number two does take us to the actual main event of UFC three hundred. Here light have you eight title? I always like to coming in the new champ against the champ that never lost it. But it turns out one of these two. Wow, right Alex Padata Poeton Wow, first round KO, first big punch, that counter left hook, which is maybe the biggest weapon right now on the entire sport. Luke Thomas, Alex Patata's Pereira's quick and efficient KO win over Jamal Hill means blank.

No one has no kickboxer, no elite kickboxer. Let me say it this way, Alex Padata is the most successful elite kickboxer to ever cross over into MMA. Now understand something. You could debate that because you can say, well, Izz, he was a champion, So here's what I'm kind of he's like the second best to ever do it at middleweight. A guy like Padata doesn't have all of those same accolades, He's got different ones. But remember he was a multiple time Glory champion and now he's been a division champion in two different weight classes. He's now defended this title, just the.

Fourth UFC fighter in history to defend titles in two different divisions.

He's beaten five former champions. When you look at kickboxers who have crossed over, guys like Mirco Crow Cop, guys like Stefan Laco, guys like and you know Bob well, Bob sat not really, but Melvin Manhoff. You can go down the list. They've all done well to different degrees, and they've certainly been very accomplished. I don't know anyone. I'm not saying that Padeta has the same kind of resume as Izzy. Will always be, in my judgment, at worst, the second best middleweight of all time. It's hard to put Padata necessarily in a similar kind of category just due to the short amount of time. But no one has been an elite kickboxer, made them move over to MMA and collected as many meaningful trophies with this kind of meaningful victories, this quickly, this matter of factly.

Ever, in his eighth UFC fight, in his eighth UFC fight, five consecutive former current champions, defeated bounce back from one of the gnarliest knockout losses in his rematch in the NMA World with Atosanya in Miami, which included the ultimate meme celebration, which then Poton reversed on hill in this one, which is incredible and looke, I don't want to harp on it, because but I do think UFC got it wrong, way wrong. BMF should have been the main event, Max, and justin not just the way the fight played out with the star power, what it means such a celebratory fun action revenge not revenge, violent moment. But yet Poton still goes out there in the main event, absolutely drills and finishes a former champion with the first punch he lands and does it in the coldest mother fucking way of each The low blow tell us the referee noll I got this, let me cook, let me cook, basically chef Curry over here, and then delivers the punch from hell and then instantly has loaded the viral celebration of like, you know, the payback for all the trash talk. I mean, I don't know if you saw as Poton was walking into the arena doing his his uh, his name, what's the nicest way to call that dance sort of ceremony to the y to the what to the indigenous people?

Uh?

And then Joe Tall Hills in the ring, you know, pretending that he's breaking the arrow and over his leg and doing that. You know, now, I don't have anything against Jamal Hill coming in confident right there, but that was such a freaking cold moment in an iced ending that he delivered. Nobody was ever whether it was the comin event or the main event, going to live up or to top what the BMF fight was, but poheto came.

Pereta potato head.

Perreira came really damn close to winning the night with this performance, and historically it's like what do we do with him? I mentioned he's one of now four people that defend titles in two different divisions in the three names, are you know all timers? Does he have the best crossover not just as kickboxer, but like ever And I'm comparing it to Henry Shudo going from Olympic wrestling champion to two division UFC champion, Holly Holm going from a seventeen world title wins in women's boxing and being in the Hall of Fame to winning a UFC title. But now he's won two UFC titles in eight fights, even though he has a game on paper that's like one dimensional that like doesn't play out. Who was the guy who came in a couple years ago as a kickbox It was a go gokanak and he just got absolutely drilled and never came back that happens. The point is that happens. He has walked in, joined team to share in Connecticut. We might have a new King of Connecticut here, and just absolutely took over the sport, canceled out all of the negatives to his game, takedown defense, All of that plays within his strengths is Clutch has incredible cardio, is mean as shit, is really fun and viral and is this like fun superhero that everybody loves who's actually becoming a legitimate star. Delivers an incredible viral moment that probably would have been talked about forever if Max didn't do what he did in terms of how he just sent Jamal Hill down and now teases the idea of not only I want to come back in Brazil for UFC three oh one, but I want it to be at heavyweight and no disrespect again to viatally my Lincoln of one championship, who is a three division champion for them Vatican, but with their weight class high rehydration, I just I call him Vitalie Clichko basically Mallikin Malick and Allikin.

Sorry about that.

When he wins three championship, you know the middleweight one is at two hundred five pounds, so it's basically like heavyweight, we have a chance here, we have an opening here. We always thought to be Connor. It might be Pooton, the first person to legitimately walk in and have a shot at winning a third title in a third weight class. I didn't love Dana's answer afterwards at the Giddy press conference is saying, well, it seems like he's got a lot of business to do in his own division. Let's hold like, let's slow the brakes. I feel like what Pooton has done in the short window, two championships, everything, headlining MSG, headlining three hundred, what else could this man do?

Were the the UFC basically should.

Bend to his will. Oh you want to fight to heavyweight, then we'll get you in line. Oh you want to turn around quick and help us? Three on one, which is right now? I don't want to say this after three hundred, just blow our brains positively, but three oh one on paper is one of the worst paper view cards of all time. Let that man fight there, get a heavyweight up in the bullpen. Let's make a fun attraction fight.

If he wants to.

Go for a third title, He's thirty six years old. He's not getting any younger. This is the guy. Embrace him usc as much as Max just doubled down on his celebrity. Poloton is here and he's one of the most unique crossover forces the sport has ever seen. If he wants to go fight, John Jones set up the fight. Look, I'm serious. What this guy has done in a window this big is absolutely ridiculous. Has he benefited from time and place and opportunity, Yes, but he's delivered in each of these fights, including rallying to knock out Israel Asania in round five at middleweight. I don't know what else to do. He shouldn't have to stay at two of five. He should do whatever the hell he wants.

Yeah, I don't understand the whole idea of let's fast track this guy at middleweight, then fast track him at light heavyweight. You get two. Obviously, you know he got the second of the two MMA meetings, but you fast tracked him. He got a title at middleweight. You fast tracked him at light heavyweight. He got a title there. What's the point in slowing him down? Now? BC to your point, every time you Alley ooped this guy.

He slammed dunks with style, with with style, Why would you slow down the freight train?

Now? I'm completely on board. First of all, let me just say something about you mentioned about Max should have been the main event. I agree, and Max noted pre fight. Hey, we're the ones where all the advertisements are based around. I think that's why he got the six hundred k, which is why they were thinking he will will right. But getting back to Padeta here, he did his job at main event. I mean, you go down and you look at the details of how he hand fought Jamal Hill and how he circled out and got him, Like, dude, did you notice when he landed that left hook it was wide open? He made it wide open. He made Jamal Hill make mistakes, the level of a refinement in his game and BBC the ruthless efficiency. He doesn't need to land on you any times, just needs one or two good ones and your shit is over? Bub Do I think he can beat tom aspinall? I don't think he can beat tom aspinall. Do I think he should get a fight against Tom Aspinall?

Fuck?

Yes, yes, make that fight?

Are you kidding me?

The new King of Connecticut is here.

Yes, speed run this guy's UFC Hall of Fame effort. Speed run it.

He embrace it.

Can you imagine him? Can you imagine Brian Campbell if he goes in there and takes again. Do I think it's likely. I don't think it's likely. But if he took Aspinall's head off and he becomes that would be still an interim champion, but we would all know what that would mean. Dude, you are talking about something that is fucking basically impossible. Let him cook. He should do that to Data. Hold on, Dana, let me cook.

That's the only thing I could say negative about Data that comment. But I want to say this, like it's not just stepping up and then elevating and over delivering. And it's like, you know, we thought wrestlers were going to take him down. We thought all these things.

No, they still they still might.

He still might. And I know that at times he's benefited from opportunistic matchmaking. But he went in there and delivered. He's a one of one, embraced that UFC Again, He's not getting any younger, although he does operate in the heavier divisions. I just think Chuck Mindenhall deserves the ultimate high five, not just for being a great guy. Luke in a great analyst. But on pregame preview a couple of years ago, and I always referenced this, he said ahead of that first out of Sonya Poton Fight. We think the story is all about Izzy and redeeming himself against the bad guy at the end of the movie in his kickboxing career. It turns out this was Poeton's story all along. He's right, And I don't say that to diminish what Atta Sonya is achieved or what he will continue to go on to achieve. But Luke, this is the ultimate storybook crossover. And the fact that he actually got knocked out in the most vicious and viral way in the middle of that and just said, oh, Effett, I'll go up to light heavyweight and be Pratska, be Plahovi. It's like, be all these legitimate ass names. Has a win over Sean Strickland. It's like, this is exactly if you're the UFC who you want to be, an organic superstar who everyone respects, he understands he or he's got the Easter Island statute. Gammeck going like he gets it, like you know, attractive women too, Luke, not that that should be a part of my analysis.

Again, going back to the Max thing, Dude, Poton also wins in a way that speaks to his personality, you know. Again, doesn't say a lot, but gets it done. Doesn't say a lot. He's not at Max. Is more of a volume play in striking. Obviously that power is now coming along. Poton's not a volume play. He's not a volume play guy. He's not trying to do a ton of different stuff. He has a very smooth game and one or two points of contact and the whole shit comes under.

And I get what Dane is ultimately saying. We still have to do Jones steep Aven though we don't, and then we still have to try fuck about it, try to make Aspenhall versus you know, but Aspirinhaal is the one who's left out of this picture because of that fight.

If we have to build toward.

You know, give him a setup, give him a set up in Brazil, give him a heavyweight set up in Brazil. Eric Lewis, anyone, just do it?

Yes, Last thing I want to say about this, you had mentioned that we have to give credit to Justin gatchee, which we do. He made Max is right. It takes two to tango. It's not just that he had to offer the opportunity, but you had to fight a certain way to make that outcome. That's a real thing. Listen, Jamal Hill, this was a bad loss, but number one, he came back to me on an expedited timeline. I'm not sure that was the best thing for him in terms of winning and losing. He might have gotten a big bag for it. So it's a complicated call, but for winning purposes, it didn't do him any favors. And listen, we didn't really know how much rivalry there was going to be between the two. I think his antics. While some people are calling him cringe and they're killing him for it, I think it brought the best out of Poeton, to be perfectly honest with you. So I give credit to both Justin Gaegee as well as Jamal Hill for trying to make in their own ways, the fight's bigger and better.

Than they I'm not mad that Jamal had got this fight. From a Jamal Hill standpoint. He's an opportunist. They said, can you turn it around the time he turned around from a serious injury very fast. I know it didn't go his way, but I respect that just the same.

All Right. You see, let's talk about the co main event, which is the thing that was a perfectly fine fight just be for achieved it did it did? It just didn't. It was hard to stand out on a card like that. My question to you is as follows. Jean Waite Lee scored a perfectly fine but I would say, ultimately, you know, a fine win over Yon chan Nan. Is there any big takeaway from this?

No, just that she continues to be the best strawweight of the day right now. And I'm not again gonna go that the Rose trilogy fight needs to happen, but it's still the missing link in her being absolutely perfect. She's nine and known the UFC facing anyone but Rose nama Unis, and the improvements that she has made from the two Rose nama Unis losses three years ago have been incredible, especially on the ground. She was pushed in this fight by Yan Channon's toughness and by the fact that I think Wayley orded a little bit too much out in the tank trying to finish her in round two. But the way that she came back again speaks to championship experience, and toughness speaks to incredible Cardio speaks to knowing how to win a fight, going back to the roots of the ground game, knowing, Okay, at the very least I can neutralize her there, and that's how she won the championship rounds and was able to get the win. In a way, It's just that Yan Channon kind of overachieved from a toughness damp point, from a being a big out, a physically tough appoint that I don't think we gave enough credit coming in when we actually broke down the fight outside of saying that it was kind of miscast in its spot. But Wayey is a special, all time great fighter in women's MMA history, and I think it's just another difficult test that became difficult out of nowhere that she's still adjusted in past and that's what greats do. But Jason Herzog twice a kind of gave jan Chandon every possible chance to succeed. Now, so did the tattooed weed referee in Lesnar Carwin, Right, Josh, he doesn't do that. If he doesn't do that, we don't have that all time great moment. What did you think in general about Jason Herzog not just allowing Yan Channon, who did seem out at the end of round one with the choke, to stand up on her own power? Was that the right call within the rules set? And then you easily could have seen that fight stopped in round two when the ground and pound sitting on Yon's back, just pounding to the side of her head. You know, I don't know, I don't Sometimes you like when an aging champion, who who's got that will get to that extra hook? It was too much extra hook.

It fell like So there was a joke that was going around after the fight, which was not only did Joan Wiley win, she won by first round submission, second round TKO, and then by decision, which is not an unfair thing to say. I mean, listen, I'll say this. I think Jason Hrstog we see is one of the best referees we have.

He might be the best.

That doesn't mean that they make every decision that you love or every decision that's correct. I actually looked into this. I don't know what the rule is because she lets go of the choke and in the first round and Yon Shannon is there, but you know it's these chokes are blood chokes, so you're waiting for circulation to happen to regain full consciousness. I know, if a fighter gets rocked, they can't be saved by the belt, Like if they stand up and another falling over, they might just wave it. She was stumbling and he actually, like, for a minute, I could be getting this detail wrong, but I believe he actually like helps write her posture a little bit. I don't know what the rules are with that. I actually I looked into it. There's nothing really clearly like can the referee assist in these circumstances between rounds? I don't know. In the end, the right guy won. And I will also say for jan Shaunn, she performed. I mean, listen, she was overmatched, right. She nearly got choked out in the first round. She nearly got stopped in the second round. I thought some of her takedown defense was relatively speaking, much improved. I thought some of her defense first round notwithstanding over as the course of the fight went on, it got better and better. It was a perfectly serviceable contender performance in the end. My biggest takeaway from this though, was BC one again. It doesn't seem like it was possible. But had this fight taken place in China, I think it would have been a better fit. But the big takeaway I had was along till Tatiana Suarez is.

Right ray call because my takeaway was as much as I love the Strawaway division and always have, I thought the first UFC fight card I ever attended and covered in person was the finale in twenty December twenty fourteen, when when Rose lost to Carla Esparza in the final there. But the division is on a little bit of down times, a little bit hard times right now. Yo want has gone, Rose has gone Wayley's still the business, but the contenders behind her outside of SWA don't have that threat anymore of being able to win the title on any night. Suarez is the one that is the one.

If she's not the one, then it's gonna be old age that gets her.

Right, But that's the fight to make you know. I don't I'm in the past. We're like, well, maybe Walley will plight Valentine. I don't need that. Most people don't need Rosen a title fight. Again, I'm not one of them.

I do.

But whatever Tatiana is the fight to make. But if we're gonna talk women's MMA, we gotta talk Kyla Harrison.

So let's let's transition to that. We'll stay on this topic here what women's MMA more generally BC, Let's talk about Kayla Harrison's win. What would a fight with Amanda Nunez mean for both of them? For bantamweight and for the UFC if.

Kayla Harrison does what she teased on Saturday. And by the way, we have to stop and just say Kayla Harrison is one of one. She and I know I'm using over using that term in this show, but animal. She is an animal. She is a winner. She is someone who I mean, the reason why I chair for her a lot because her personal story of overcoming and adopting her her nieces, nephews and becoming a mom. I mean, it's just incredible. But let's talk about what she did. She cut down to one hundred and thirty five pounds and somehow made it look easy, even though this is absolutely ridiculous for somebody who contested in the Olympics of judo at like one seventy two and had one fight at one forty five and went in there against I know, an aftermarket Holly Holm, but absolutely dominated her. If Kayla can get into a title fight quick, whether it's next against Raquel or she has to go through Penya or whatever, she would need to do that first. She would need to do that. But if she can become the women's bantamweight champion, which to be honest, if she's gonna look that good again, if she can make that cut again, she would blow away pretty much everybody I think in that division. Although I give Panya a shot, her against Amanda could be one of the biggest fights in women's history. Is that hyperbole? I think it could be.

To put the camera on me, make this fight, make this fight, Make Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Neu Naza. I'm gonna tell you why. Very clearly, women's MMA desperately needs it. That's why BC. Yeah, I have been saying this where yes, some of the women's fights from a mathematical standpoint, you can see that what we were doing when we did okay bet, the chances of them going to decision is higher. I think that's just a natural occupational reality. It doesn't necessarily service women's MA, but I don't think it's the biggest deal at the end of the world or the end of the world. However, what I do think is a big deal is right now. When you look at the women's game, there are some interesting parts about it. Again, this co main event, perfectly fine, perfectly action packed, nothing wrong with it. Not remarkable, but perfectly fine. But there's a lot of perfectly fine right now in the game. You don't hear hardly any stories Alexa Grosso and Valentina Chichenko, notwithstanding about rivalries storylines. Dude, when was the last time there was a real deal, no bullshit grudge match versus plausa. This is what I'm talking about. Or you could say you Wanta versus Rowsey Tate two, Rossi Tate two. You could also say the Shong Wi Lee versus You Want to Fight wasn't a grudge match and still is the best women's fight. You don't always need them, but I'm just saying you still don't even have the option of them these days. This is a grudge match between the When Kayla Harrison says she's the best American judoka ever, she is right. No one has ever won a gold medal except for her. She did it fucking twice. When people say, oh, I'm a world class athlete, half the time they're bullshitting. It's true, and she says it, and she's got beef with the best to ever do it in MMA, and that person wants.

The smoke and a saucy backstory if you're going to get a women's fight in this case, and I did see a lot of unfortunate people being like Hooker's Holly Holmes washed Caylee f those people. This was historically relevant in my opinion, for Kayla to come here and make this weight and dominate like she did. But this has the saucy WWE backstory. They were teammates at ATT when Amanda was the goat in the two division champion and the best of the world. She actively basically accused her coaches of favoring Kayla over her, which led her to open up her own gym and she seems much happier. But I was elated to see that video. We're going to see it, and have you seen the shit of Amanda doing a selfie in front of it, waiting for Tila hoping that she would call her name. That is great when you have a champion that retires on their own terms or any fighter, we salute them, and we did that to Amanda. Her walking away last year was storybook.

It was perfect, like Robbi Lawler's.

It was just chef's kiss. The fact that she still has that hunger and unfinished business. Kayla's not trying to be the greatest judoko ever. She's not trying to be the greatest crossover fighter. Right we talked about what Home did in Poloton. She's trying to be the greatest combat sports athlete of all time, you know, female or otherwise, Like, those are the goals that she's circling. So how big could a fight between her and Amanda even if it didn't hit commercially, because there're gonna be a lot of haters historically in something that matters and a matchup that is so interesting, Luke, from what you saw to Kayla, is that reproducible at one thirty five? And if it is that effort that ground game can anyone handle, that can anyone number that.

I don't know how many of these weight cuts she can make, and we need to be cognizant of that. Like she's talking about I want to be at the title, about the end of the year, probably in part because she's got a handful of these she can get away with before her body just says no more. So let's understand that. But this is the thing I want to mention. There was a PFL show in Vegas on Friday, actually a good show, but in the end utterly forgettable, like everything PFL.

Does except for the live mic. Unfortunately for O'Connell's I.

Love sehanal Connor's actually a great.

I didn't put in have you seen the chickcause I felt bad because it could happen to anybody, right, you gotta it's.

Like BC with the N word jokes. You just can't be doing stuff like that. You know what I'm saying, Wow, Wow, I'm teeson, I'm teasing. What I want to say was in terms of this dude, look, she had an extra edge Kayla Harrison did all week. I think you saw that during the press events. But the thing that really stood out to me was do the elbows and her physicality in this weight class. I don't think making the cut to one thirty five is great for her, but her physical dominion over these mere mortals is so obvious. And then when you let her have elbows. Dude, look at what PFL did to her, Not so much the weight class part, which in that case I do think they accommodated her quite well, but in limiting her. She can't be this menacing force that you can sell to the public if she doesn't have access to the very tools, yes that make her the menacing figure that you can sell to the public, and under the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the situation she's in. Now you get all of that.

And a great backstory if you want to tell it on ESPN aggressively right like, this could be something very big her coming over and looking like that and dominating the way she did. So, man, I want to see it. I want to see aman to get hunger and get back in there, but you want to see her show to the title path the right way. So is it right for her to face Pennington next? Or do you think the matchup is Pennington versus Juliana Panya and Kayla gets the winner.

So what Kayla's told I believe tsn No, he's up with sports excuse me. With Aaron ben Brodstetter was that if the fight with Amanda Nonas got offered first, so she didn't get a title shot, and it was Nona's first, she would take it. So my answer is either either title shot or Amanda Nunas like this idea that, dude, we need to keep her busy, like the clock is ticking with her. She's thirty three years old. We've got just a couple of years.

Why everyone's like Penia has to get the next shot. I mean she doesn't, She's never active. Unfortunately. I know she beat Amanda one of the greatest upsets we've ever seen, and it was emotional and I loved it. Got dominated in the second Kevin and I only had her pump for pont number one as recently as a few weeks ago. But you could go right there with Kayla versus Pennython. They've already been kind of trading trash talk. I think that's the right move right now to set up Amanda for the title of Kayla wins it. Do you think women's featherweight one forty five is kept around just in case Kayla can't.

Reproduce this potentially, right, gives them a little bit of an out. It gives them some flexibility if there's an opportunity to explore that they at least have it in their back pocket like you. I don't think they have any real designs on one forty five. But let's say Kayla ends up beating a Manda Nunez and blows up and they want to do the rematch. They could do it at one forty five, right, And so that case, it gives you just some freedom to play with. But again, one more time, dude, they unleashed a fucking beast with Kayla Harrison, and I am so excited to see it. I just know the sands in the hour glass, the sand grain they're moving. We don't have a lot of time for her to make this weight consistently strike while the iron is hot. The women's game needs this so badly. Agreed, Let's give it to them, all right?

All right? Topic number four as we continue, God, there's so many storylines on this card. We said the fight of the night coming in could be the potential number one contender lightweight out and armand saryuki In was poised. He was well game planned, He was tough as nails to eke out a very very entertaining split decision over Charles Olivera to seemingly put himself in the position for a title now. Subsequently, after the fight, Dana Whit announced it's actual Dustin Pourier that's going to get next. We did see some reports that sar Yukian was offered the fight the title but didn't want to turn around. It would have been a forty seven day turnaround that quickly. Remember his whole storyline is the first time he fought mad Jev. It was a short camp, so I respect that. But from the standpoint of the performance, is this title worthy? Should he basically sit in the bullpen and get the winner of Islam versus Dustin at three to two.

I'll say yes. Here's where I'm at with sar yukin BC and helped me if tell me if this makes sense, because I've been high on him and I am still high on him. I've been down on him based on some developmental issues like after the Gamrat fight, and I don't want to let all.

Of them go body for days like another Army Ya.

First team all body, I mean first team, and him and al Jabin Sterling first team all body, I mean, forget it. Well, when I think about this, it's like, if you look at what he achieved, he beat Charles Olavera over the course of three rounds. My first takeaway though I fight should have been five. Don't know how it would have gone after five, but it should have been five. That's what's number one. Number two?

You mean you like he didn't like that the main event came on at two am Easter time. I mean, what do you want to do it?

I was like, dude, I'm so glad my wife and kidder gone because I would be a horrible husband father the next day. All right, But what I'm what I want to get at BC was if I look at this win getting out of that guillotine, shooke, incredible grit, then taking him down, And here's what I was looking for because I did a pre fight breakdown Islam Makhachev went chest to chess with him on top the entire time. And if you don't give Charles Lavera any room, his guard never gets going. And how you neutralize it, by and large sar yuki and pulled off the same game plan, which means he had real pre fight strategy in place, Yes, and he executed it with strong defensive responsibility. That's exactly the kind of thing you want to see. On the other hand, he also kind of eked it out. On the other hand, nasty Charles is nasty. But what the point I'm trying to make is I don't think it in any way makes the win look bad. That's not what I'm saying. What you're asking is, imagine someone runs for office and they barely win. Do they have what's called the political mandate to start instituting their reforms? Often not, But if someone wins like Ron Reagan did in the eighties with some gigantic landslide, now the wind is at your back, and now, like Max, you can start calling shots, and you can start asking for things, and people will have demand for it. BC. Was this the kind of win in your mind that gives him mandate? It's impressive. I value it. If he's the next guy. Fine, I didn't exactly see mandate.

I guess I get what you're saying. If he had knocked him out, which would have been.

A large four in that third round, really just stuck it.

To then there, it would have been a greater argument. Now it does seem to be. I mentioned that report that he was offered the fight, and you can argue whether that was the perfect decision on what forty seven forty eight days. Notice, if you already had to take a short camp the first time, I can understand that. What I don't want to see is then he has to pass another test because would it have been better if he demonstratively finished him? Of course, but we had questions not about his power or his wrestling. We had questions more about those intangibles. I mean that knockout of benil Deru seemed to be like a breakthrough for him, that he could be nasty on this next level, putting his entire game together. What we still didn't necessarily know is when you're in there with someone who's a chaos doctor like OLIVERA, can you match him in stamina? Can you outthink him? Can you carry out the game plan? This wasn't as dramatic in an upscale of his ability of what I thought coming in as what Drichist did Duplessi did to ultimately take the Midway title, But in some degrees it mirrors that.

To me.

He showed us in this fight all the intangibles that I need to see, even though it was only three rounds and not five. So I'm not saying you can perfectly adapt that and guess where he would have been in rounds four and five. But that choke was Volkanovski or Tega looking deep in that second round, and he also or first round, whatever it was. And he also avoided a darsh choke at the end of round three, clowning out the seconds that I know maybe looks bad, but he still got the win. I still scored at two rounds to one for him, which I'm sure you did. He answered the real, tough, serious questions because Olivera's no frickin' joke, and he went to second and third elements of his game plan and dug deep to try to rally and come back, and Sar Yukin still didn't break. And Luke our analysis coming in of both of us picking Olivera as the hot underdog and basically saying, look, I've picked in the end, okay, But the basis for a lot of us was when it turns up and gets crazy, all Sar you can have to do is make that one mistake, whether it's in top position or it's on the feet, and Charles can close that door in a second. That mistake never happened, and he was in some deep territory, so he showed me championship guile. I don't think he should have to pass any more tests. I think that Look, the reason he didn't accept the fight was probably because they asked him right after the win and such a short turnaround.

But if he heals up, if.

He gets ready and gets game planned, he is a legitimate challenge for Islam, who's been dominating people. The storyline makes sense, it's perfect right. The only loss that he's had since that fight was the Gamraut fight, which was disputed, and you could have thought, sir, you can win that anyway, What else do you need from this whole?

I agree, I agree he should not need to pass any more tests. I'm not even sure who would be available if he needed to, to be perfectly honest with you, because we're gonna talk about Connor and Chandler here in just a second. But the thing for me was, it's like, as impressive as it was to beat Charles Lavera, as much growth as he showed, I think he's still got a few more gears to go before he really perfect, before he settles into like a very the kind of the kind of ability that would make me think he could win and defend a title. Okay, to me, what he showed was he can compete with the elite of the division. Did he show you that he can hold a title and defend it unless committed to that. After Islam beat Charles, you were like, oh, yeah, that fucker can hold it. You know what I mean? He can hold it.

So I want to see. By the way, because the champion had a name Luke and OLIVERA had his swing there and he was reborn, I thought from the dry use knockout wind. But you think with everybody, I'd like to see him in the BMF lane. I'd like to see that BMF title, such a great idea defend it. I don't what I don't.

By the way, Max and Charles have history. They already fought one time.

And here's what I don't want to see for BMF. I don't want it to be a thing where you just put that label on any fight you want to make. I actually want to see that the title get defended. I actually want to see there be a lineage of it.

Right.

I think a lot of these guys should realize as long as they're getting paid, are they getting paid title?

Yes, they get pay per viewpoints, they're.

Getting payer viepoints and they're getting paid. Then this is perfect because it's that fun extra title. But I think Olivera is perfect for this division at this age, right.

That's what I mean. Fighters make the title, not the other way around. You put Charles Olavera in that lineage, you would have Max former weight class champion, Charles former weight class champion, Gai Chee, former interim champion. This is the kind of thing that you need to see to be like, oh does the BMF belt anything? It depends who you book to fight in it, That's what it means' true.

Do you think we should have a female one?

Yes?

Well again, I would love to see the game get to a point where the organic demand for it alive. That's I guess what I would say. All right, BC, Not a whole lot to say about this one, but I do have to talk about it. Question number five for us here as we get through is Bo Nickel again fought what I would call perfectly fine, not amazing, but perfectly fine. However, I do think he struggled relative to expectations, certainly the odds against Cody Brundage. Is it time to pump the brakes on the bow Nickel hype.

It's like yes and no, which I know that's that's sort of fence straddling. But the whole point is this.

Very Luke Thomas answer.

We were expecting, I guess on the hype and the odds and the way that he's finished everybody for him to just go in there, duck a punch, take him down, put on the submission and be like, Okay, it's gonna fight for the title next, Like what are we doing here? No, he's not that guy. I mean, who is that guy? Tremaiah looked like that guy for a minute, and even he's had a little bit of hitting the brakes for different reasons. No, in the overall lineage of where he's going, this is how you build a special, unique prospect.

You escalate up.

People were crapping on Cody Brunders. The odds makers were like, this guy's got no chance. Yet he came in there stuck on his best chance, which is coming there with the big bomb, try to make it a real fight, and actually landed some things and looked like he rock Nickel and I did like afterwards that bo was harsh on himself, maybe too harsh. Even Dana was like, no, I don't think he was too harsh. He underperformed okay, but he's still like controlled almost all of the action, never got into any serious trouble and put him away. But people do ow Cody Brunt a little bit of respect. I mean his defensive.

He threw him by.

This was the test we needed to see a young, aggressive guy who can wrestle a little bit as well and has a college background. I thought it was really kind of played out perfectly because if we don't see bo Nickel in any kind of resistance before he's in a really big fight, whether it's number one contender, whether it's the title, whether it's against just a huge celebrity name, you're never going to really know is he is he? Should he be here?

Is he that great?

I know what he can do in certain matchups is incredible. You needed to see this, so I don't hold this against him. You only hold this against him if you're expecting bow Nickel to sub everybody within two minutes, no matter of their talent level, the style contrast, or their experience. Right, If you're expecting that, it's not realistic. Outside of that, I don't know if he actually should be that harsh luke. I don't know if he should be that harsh hug right, I took care of business and gets a hungry young guy on a two fight wind streak.

I gotta tell you, I think he should be harsh on himself. And here's what I'm going to say. Is it time to pump the brakes on the hype a little? Yes? I don't understand fans. I mean, I guess I do, But like, you know, when Raoul Rosas Junior gets his first I think two fights were on pay per view cards and on main cards at that and I understand. I understand that, like they're trying to promote a kid who is valuable at the marketplace, potentially has a bright future. We don't really know, but you know, it's certainly something worth investigating, and everyone sort of cheers it. And I get it because it's like, oh, look at this young guy up against the odds. Isn't this a cool story? Whereas with bo it's like, here's not exactly silver spooned, but he's got all this credentials. He's the hot head kind of a thing. So there's a bit of a difference there. But I'll just say this, I was a little bit. I was actually very underwhelmed with his performance. To your point, he performed fine. He did what he was supposed to do. He did what you thought he could do, and getting to the second round will prove a valuable experience to him. But I think it's time for him to earn it a little bit more. The matchmaking needs to be better, which is not his fault. They can only offer him who they're offering him. But I think he needs to get a better, tougher fight and on a bit of a smaller card. He could headline a fight night on the road something like that, give him a place where he can really both be in the spotlight but have that kind of trench warfare experience that lets you be still a centerpiece of the organization's future, but also kind of earn where you're supposed to be also kind of convince the fans that you have to be liked. I didn't like how he was slugging it out with Cody early. I didn't like you.

He didn't have a name. At the end, Rogan had to go back two.

And three times. Yeah, it was just and he felt off. I think the pressure got to him a little bit, you know, for a guy who had been doing amazing things in wrestling, it looked to me like that wasn't had an effect. I am still high on him. When I say pumped the hype, I mean, oh, he could just fight for a title in the next year. No, I don't think that's possible.

You got to see him be a Jack Hermanton type.

That's exactly right. I want to I want a gritty veteran who's smart, who has some losses but had some great wins, who's tougher than expected, who has who has donunded, who's done five rounds. Yep, that's who I want to see him against. And you starting, by the way, but Nichol starts beating those guys, forget about it. He's going to be exactly everything you thought he was. But I think it's time. He has had the wind at his back in a few different ways. And it's fine. If he went out there and just blew the fucking doors off of Cody, he beat him soundly. He didn't, he didn't impress.

You gotta face adversity. He faced it, he adjusted, He's him finished the fight.

Okay, you know how much get to your point. Did I undersell how much Cody would resist? I got that wrong. Yes, But the sloppiness of some of the striking early, which I think even he would admit. I like bo Nikol, I've interviewed him a couple of times. He seems like a smart, nice guy, but even he was throwing things recklessly. Fuck no, dude, no no, no, no, no no no. If you want Hype to really follow you the right way, we got to get rid of that shit. So that's the kind of thing that I think really needs to be taken out of his game, taken out of his experience.

Okay, so he's not fighting Izzy next, that's what we're now. We're gonna pump those breaks.

I mean you even saw, I mean, you know, hom's out your minds, like I'll fight anybody five times a day and you know, never fights anyone. But he was right, He's like, this is this is your king. You know, It's like I kind of get it now. You see, I got a question to ask live on air. We still have a lot to get to in minimal amounts of time. Share let me reset here. We have Jorge Masbadol schedule to join us at about thirty minutes. Do we want to talk a little Connor, and then come back to the prelim card a little bit later.

Let's you topic number six, which was look an amazing night for the UFC, an absolutely incredible UFC three hundred and then at two fifteen am on the East Dana goes into the post by Prescott Paper. It is like, all right, I guess we're doing this. So here's the deal. June first, UFC three oh two, Newark, New Jersey. We have a main and comine event Islamaha cheviill defend the lightweight title, reportedly after Starry you can turn down the short turn round against Dustin Pourier. Comain event will be Sean Strickland, a five round fight against Paulo Costa, and later that month, in the second pay per view of that calendar month, June twenty ninth, International Fight Week, Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler is finally happening thirty six and thirty seven years old, and unfortunately with the Ultimate Fighter with the Roadhouse movie commitments, this has been dragged out Usada. This has been dragged out really long, Luke, how big though is Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler on IFW still in twenty twenty four.

I don't think it will be as big as even the Seroni fight, which had an enormous I'm back kind of feel and I'm wholesome, Yes, I don't. Yeah, I'm not. I'm the elder Statesman returning to the game. It won't have that, and it won't have the same kind of grudge match field that he had with Poorier, who he had disbanded, dismantled excuse me early in his career. Then, of course he had the second fight, which was not that great for him, and then the third one war of the injury is I mean, there are any number of issues that have played Connor. We have missed almost all, if not all, of the second half of his prime. Right, he'll be thirty six by the time that fight takes place, a right around it.

So he definitely can't win the UFC welterweight tittle or anything else below that way.

In all likelihood, probably not by the way, this fight will be at one seventy, not one fifty five, or anyone who's keeping tabs on that Connor's going to be big. He's always going to be big. This will not be one of his biggest fights, even though I still think it will do probably over a million buys. Here's what I'm going to say. You just don't know how many more of these you're going to get. It is possible, certainly he goes in there and starches Mike Chandler like he did Eddie Alvarez. Would you be surprised? I would, And Michael Chandler fights risky and risky shit happens.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Connor gasses out after having a round one and loses or just breaks his leg again, because it straight up honesty, it does not look at all like Connor has been living the spartan lifestyle.

This is what I mean.

It's like.

Between the time off and the injury and the questions about sobriety by the way, issues in the courtroom, as well as a whole sort of thing.

And it's not just it's like, you know, you hear things. You hear things from people that are connected there. You see things in a lot of videos and the promotional stuff with Jake Jillenhall, and Connor's barely able to speak.

I think he can recapture magic. But this is the juncture. We're at the Connor McGregor junction, where is he still a big star? Of course, of course, will it sell over a pay perview a million pay per view buys? Probably so, right, But we're at this juncture where if he lost about again, it's not like you think, oh, well, the end is here for us. But what I am saying is as if he is going to make any kind of opportunity at something bigger, or he's always been about what escalation Every time Connor comes back, it's escalation, escalation, But that's not what he's facing here. This is more.

This is more. Are you gonna lose this and go directly into the Nate fight to cast you out from trilogy?

Or no, that's right, that's exactly right. Because he has limited time left he's got he's probably not gonna do a bunch of these. If this is a brutal loss, it really puts into question how much more of this is even possible. Or he goes in there and does one punch, ko's him and dude, all of a sudden, the world is gonna be his oyster again. People will want to see him back, but not if he looks like a shell of himself.

And he's got a even if he loses to Chandler, and then even if he won a loss against Nate, it's really important that he stays competitive and that he doesn't fall apart, whether that's injury wise or stamina wise or whatever, because it could be a BMF re match with Max Holloway, which would be another massive, huge fight. Yeah, so that's interesting. The alternate news there is three so three oh one in Brazil. Whether Poton gets on there or not, I'm sorry, Like the card's really bad.

Yours safe five versus Patojia. It's not gonna sell any pay review buys.

But it is a lay fight after WrestleMania the month after w W does we call it paybacklash? It's either called backlash or sometimes it's called payback and it like this retread thing. So three tozho one stinks in the fight nights around at stink, But how big is three oh two?

Now?

In your eyes? Newark, New Jersey, June first, same night, by the way, as mas Vidal versus Das the boxing rematch, but Dustin Poorier star power inserted in to the one big name lightweight as his story, and it's also the championship.

I think Islam's a bigger star globally. I don't know about nationally, but globally, I think he's a bigger star.

Now I said, you're inserting Dustin Poorie's star power into this paper.

So here comes Poarier with this massive win over BSD that completely rejuvenates him. Not as much as what Max got against Justin Gaechee, but still pretty goddamn big, huge, And now you're gonna put him into this title fight. I think he's overmatched. When they've talked about who has the better career, certainly Poarier has more a tier wins than what Markachef has. But Makachev obviously beat Charles Lavera. He's a full weight class champion that's eluded Dustin Pourier. It's an incredible story. It's the protege fabib who also choked out Dustin Poarier. It's probably poor at thirty five years of age, probably his last chance to really go for a title. At this point they'll be MF but let's say weight class tittle. Probably last chance to go for a weight class title. Huge stake. So you're getting this big infusion of star power. Islam is a star. Dustin Poorier certainly is a star as well. You get backstory there, you get protege stories, you get this is your last chance story, you get action fight story. Potentially, Islam is defensive, but you know Pori is going to bring it. I actually think it's going to make that pay per view enormous. Being in Newark is great for us, except for the part where we might get shanked in the parking lot. I don't know how.

I'm not going to the Newark Penn train station at all unless they're having horses run wild to get on the tracks or moose or whatever that was.

I think it was.

Yeah, it was a bull one day, it was a bull. The next day it was uh, well yes these jokes. Colemane of Strickland versus Costa fight.

I fucking love this fight. Don't you love this? It will be It will be a great action fight.

It matters in terms of who's coming here and going in the title picture still is is the winner going to get you know, right back in there and another big fight and I think it pairs round it is five rounds and I think it pairs well with the main events, So I'm down with that. But here's the real question in this, because you're already predicting to Porio is going to be Max.

Basically, I don't think anyone at one forty five can beat him right now? Right now?

Does Dustin Poorier have it legitimate chance of pulling an upset here and having his own Max old guy moment? And Dustin's had a bunch of great old guy moments. He constantly reinvents himself, just like Max gets head kicked by gay Chie.

Okay, Islam has better grappling and wrestling than BSD and makes far fewer errors.

That's the key, never makes error.

It's like that's a Dustin Poorier is one of the hardest hitters ever at lightweight, make no mistake about it, and has proven me wrong at times, proven you wrong at times, prove me right at times. Two has been there and done that. But stated plainly, Islam Makachev is a bad matchup for him. That doesn't mean it's impossible. But gun to my head, are you picking Dustin Parker? Oh but it would be a great moment? Oh my god, I mean set the scene here. Here is a guy who has tried to win the title a couple of different times, didn't go his way, did get the interim title, does have stoppages over Eddie Alvarez, over Gates. He didn't go his way in a big way. He got the crap kicked out of him by Habib.

Yes, and also the Charles title fight too, And that's not there's no negative stamp against his great career, great fighters, like we built up this great story of twenty five minutes for the rest of your life and all that, and he's come five minutes to make life fair and he's come up empty. He'll get one more big chance. It's like the odds are probably going to shut him out. I haven't seen the earlier.

At this point, he's getting checks from Celsius, bud Light, and Samsung. I think life's become fair for him a little bit, which he heard. I'm just saying it's the one thing that has eluded him. When you think about your prize fighting career and what you want, like do you want legendary fights? Check? Do you want fan adoration? Maybe not du but comes with the thing. Check. Did you make some big money? He made some big money. Check? Did you beat some of the biggest names that you had in your generation. Did you fight the toughest guys? Fucking check? Were you a world champion? Not yet. That's the last piece of the puzzle here. It's just the matchup.

He has a fucking to not impossible. I mean, how many, dude, how many times we really have to constantly remind ourselves that, no matter what we think, and whenever there's a rare, sort of somewhat lopsided title fight because their star power involved, really, for me it was newness. Panya just reminded me that, like, anything is possible on any given night. Back to UFC three hundre, because there's so many storylines.

You got to go rapid fire on the prelim card.

I want to talk just the thing that stood out to me the most eerie Prahotzka.

Just I was watching that fight with Othello and he's like, dude, he's gonna lose. He's getting tagged.

I'm like, hold on, yeah, hold on. I love by the way that he got pissed off about that, you're not a samurai think so that fueled him. I love the weird fan videos of him outside the arena the night before, which is really great. I mean, you know, I understand what he's doing visually, like that's his process and I love hearing him in the postfight press conference. Have to sort of break it down and say, I'm not a creeper, guys, this is but Luke, he went in there against rackets too. Let's put a lot of respect. After two years off in a serious injury. In that first round he looked like a million bucks. He's piecing Yearie up. But this is what year he does. He lures you into an absolute war and then has better firepower and can outlast it. Dude, he took ridiculous shots and just just shook his head.

And here's the weird part. Alexander Rakitch looked awesome for long stretches of the fight.

My point is Prohots could con beat anyone at any given night. If if he gets back into a Poeton rematch, which I'm sure UFC would want for the potential action and all that, like, it wouldn't be wrong if you favored him as so even if.

I'll say this, when Yeary's chin goes, he's in trouble. Sure he's in trouble, but right now his durability is insane. His commitment is insane. He's a good athlete too, obviously, and.

That was due that win.

This is what I mean about you know why those wins all felt so good in the time that they had them. Everyone's win was like defining of their personality. Yes, Max's win was here's Yeeri where he's getting just fucking bombed on and he finds a way to come back.

I know Tomcano too, money Moyicano had the same type of win underdog.

Let's almost getting Jayleen Turner just let him recover all time back, all time UFC mistake.

Yeah, Leon, let don bebe super Bowl at that time in Pasadena reminded me of that, right, It's just sort of like those damn moments when you probably could have got it. I don't know if he finishes him. Do you automatically think that he blew a finish?

I get that he Do you think he blew a finish?

Yes, But dude, Mocano was such a great personality. He delivered the promo that you expect afterwards. I want to see him in big ass BMF fighter. Not everybody can fight with the BMFT, but you get my point. I want to see him in fun colorful fights. I know that moy Kano can also climb the ladder and get into contention, but we need more of him on television. Look, that's like, seriously break that personality out Al.

Jamaine Sterling very quickly. I don't think. Here's my take. I don't think he convinced UFC matchmakers to give him a title shot. No, no, there's no conversation. But put away, how impressive you thought it was? I thought it was super impressive. I agreed doing that to Calvin Cator. Even your guy who was Abe Lincoln from Augustan Zabit, Yes, even Zabit couldn't do that, and Al Jamaine Sterling did. Al Jamaine Sterling didn't have the kind of performance that made fans or matchmakers want to fast track him to the front. But did it show he can compete with the elite of this division at least on his terms? One thousand percent one thousand percent. He might be a tougher fight for Taporia in certain ways than Josh Emmitt. We Josh Emmitt got kind of cleaned out too.

But I will be after that Bryce Mitchell knockout right, So again, isn't he isn't Emmett back on a hot streak after.

That, but you know, he got washed by Toporia. I'm just saying I think he's going to be a surprisingly tricky matchup in this way class. It's just a question of how many hills he has to climb.

Yeah, not gonna be super exciting, but never really has It's always matchup dependent. But I was happy for him that he got the win. And I mean, you know Dago a little bit. I mean, there's so many great stories.

Last question, last question on the prelims, but more generally, the three hundred K bonus. Uh, nice to see people get it. And I'm sure there were some backstage bonus name talking about going to take care of, for example, Bobby Green and Jim Miller, who did not get the official bonus, but I'm sure got something in the end. I don't see any evidence that actually changed the way that anybody fought.

I disagree, even though even though I know you're gonna say, well, they give me the exact example. I just felt in general that mixed with the heightened sort of tension of it being three hundred and a historic anniversary card, and by the way that crowd was on fire, I regret not being there. I was there the night before ran I flew into Vegas for eleven hours and turned it around on a red eye to cover from home. Now I'm like, I should have forced my way in just to feel that Max moment there.

It was absolutely incredible.

But no, I've lost track of round.

I'm just gonna say, listen, did Max and Justin fight their heart out? No question? No? Yeah? Sorry, have done that anyway, Jim, I don't know.

I saw people, Bobby Green, I saw people absolutely commit to the idea that look, this is life changing money. This is like retirement home.

This is like, I don't like any evidence. I saw a guy like, if you were on this car, chances are you were in certain depending on your style, you were already in action. Fight this idea that like, oh, these guys, I've never fought this way. They've all thought this way before.

Okay, but across the board, it brought everybody from I'm not saying.

Extra money is bad.

Extra money percent raised in terms of their franticness.

I think you're reading into something that just didn't happen. I'm not saying extra money is bad. I'm saying, did extra money noticeably transformed fights? I don't think you.

Can say yes that feeling you're saying, it's just the three hundred. I'm caught up in the drug of.

Three tough fights. I mean, there's guys that are in tough fights, like but do you really believe that? Like if the bonuses were still fifty that and the fight had played out just as it had that, Max wouldn't have pointed to the floor. He already did it against Lamas he has big wave of us. He would have done that shit.

No matter what.

It's just he should have been rewarded for whatever he did. All right, BC, you want to talk a little Haney Garcia to do it? One more reminder twelve fifteen, excuse me, twelve thirty. We're supposed to be joined by Jorge mass but I will see how that goes. Right now, BC, it is Hany Garcia fight week.

It is, it is.

It is first question to you help us out here, boxing guy. Isn't the biggest storyline heading into this fight the mental health or life thereof of Ryan Garcia?

It is?

It is.

And if you've been following the Ryan Garcia social media like you was there, saw I saw him as I hosted the MOSVID al DS press conference on Friday in Vegas, and Ryan's brother is on the undercard against the Sun of Fernando Vargas and there's like a blood warn it got interesting. Ryan comes up and he's talking trash and all that. I could easily say, Man, he looked like he was partying and he looked crazy. But then again, he comes live on Instagram later and says, everybody thinks I'm drinking, but I'm not. I'm fooling you. So here's the deal. I don't actually know what percentage of Ryan Garcia's last three months is actively trying to troll on fool people or legitimate mental health activation or substance abuse or whatever. Either way, I don't think he's accomplished anything close to now. Look what the proof will be in the pudding, as Floyd always says, when the pay per view numbers, and how big this fight will be to his own pay per view Saturday Barclay Center. It's a big deal, two young stars. But I just feel like Ryan's like tarnished his reputation in major ways with with a lot of this behavior. I don't actually know how much of it is in act. I do think he's trying to at the very least full Haney and fool the public into the idea that he's not taking this seriously. But I think physically you can see it seems. I assume he is with Derek, with Derek James as a trainer, but he's switching trainers left and right like crazy.

We don't really know.

To me, it comes down to this, if you're gonna watch this fight, and I think you have to, you have to see what's gonna happen here. And it's two big, great stars and it could be fun. Even though we're all saying, look, if Ryan is not where he should be mentally, man, maybe Hani picks him apart. How the real question might not be Luke, is he mentally health and healthy enough? Because they did do tests, they did their diligence. His mental health has been played up in the Dezonned pre fight documentary series in terms, but Ryan in that series is saying, guys, I'm playing you. I'm playing you. Okay, Well, let's put that mental health aside and basically use it to.

Make my next point.

Can this image he's giving of recklessness play into the ring and make him as dangerous as possible? Early in the fight until Haney inevitably figures out and most likely finishes him with a perfectly placed counter shot. Can Ryan Garcia, who in six amateur fights between the ages of nine and sixteen, does have three victories over Haney? Obviously they're at different ages. Who knows, right, it's an amateur fight? Three what one minute? Two minute? One minute rounds? I mean it's it's like, it's so.

Different obvious age they thought, I don't think it's no.

And Haney has obviously escalated to a top five pound for pound since then. But Luke Ryan Garcia is dangerous. He's he has power from his speed. His speed is dynamic. If you've seen the videos of him warming up showcasing that speed, I mean, it's legit. Can he be more reckless and dangerous than he tried to be in the early rounds against Tank Davis, which I think he was playing a little bit more chess. And if he is, is he a live dog in this fight? Because I think we're past the mental health question to a degree that all powers that be checked into it and they're happy with what.

No, I can't they looked at it like maybe he's just stupid. I don't know.

See I wanted to ask you that in a loose way, like is this is he miscalculated this so badly?

Not know how to? I mean understand who Devin Haney is at this point, right, I was not down on Devin Haney, but I wasn't super convinced about him. I needed to see more evidence. And what I have seen is not just success, but the meticulous and very strategic planning, the intentionality that he and his father had with a plan that was in place years ago. I mean, you don't just get to where he's going by like, oh, you show up and just win. No, you have to like really think about every single move you have to make. What's the right fight, what's the right time, under what conditions? How do I have to train? This is a guy who's got people watching tape for him, who doesn't drink, who doesn't smoke, who doesn't stay out late or doesn't do these things, who lives but relatively speaking, certainly a much more disciplined, monastic kind of life. Brawl a boxer, box a brawler, and so maybe by making it crazy it's using some of that speed and power. He can cause some problems early. He is going to leave too many openings, and that weird shoulder role that he does, and the strategic ever you just it's hard for me to believe. Does Ryan have gifts that are dangerous that you cannot look the other way on? No question? But does he seem to you? I'm not saying pure is he okay? I'm saying does he seem competitively in the right frame of mind to deal with someone who is so single task focused, who is so cross your t's and dot your eyes, who is so careful yet so diligent.

I don't think he is to win a decision. No, But here's what I want to say about the Ryan character that he seems to be playing. And obviously there seems to be some elements of real in here. And I don't know where he's at mentally, But did you say this? I did talk through like not off camera, and he's out of control and he's showing his abs, and you know, he's trying to show everybody in a way what we're saying that like, Look, I'm fooled, y'all. I got you guys to focus on the fight. But Luke, you could argue that his only real chance is to lean exclusively on his positives, which is to come out guns blazing, to basically say I've got four or five rounds to hurt Hani and try to turn this fight in my direction. You could argue, Luke, tell me if I'm crazy on this that if this is a play, and I'm not saying it's a good troll job, I'm saying it's probably negative. It probably hurts the pay per view numbers at the end of the day in some weird ways because people don't think he has a chance. But isn't he potentially playing into his only real chance, like one hundred one thousand percent basically saying my only real chance is my physicality, my speed, and when the power that comes from that and the fact that I'm big and long and i can just attack. He's kind of setting that stage perfectly in that regard with this crazy mindset. Like the only weakness Hainy has is that one moment against Jorgye Lenaris when he got rocked by a shot and then basically circled away and held for the last few rounds and kind of coasted to a victory. Since then, Hany's never really looked vulnerable, and he's been almost perfect. Can Ryan find that one spot in the death start Luke? I think at the very least his he seems to be going all in to give him that one chance. Meaning when Ryan knocked out Luke Campbell, the biggest and best win of his career, right got off off the canvas and beat a gold medalist in the Olympics and a true title contender who never got over the hump as a pro. But we said, look, he might. He's not perfect a lot, there's a lot of potential flaws that'll get him. But he might be like terrible Terry Norris, who by the way, went to the Hall of Fame and was an all time great fighter, but had that one big weakness that chin, and basically just was a gun slinger. Good boxer of course, but went in there to try to get you before you get him. Isn't that Ryan Garcia's best chance and maybe only chance to win this?

So if that's the case, so the answer is yes, But pitching it back to you, kay, yes, yes is the answer. But my question would be, okay, but how it's his best chance, it's.

Still it's his only chance, So I'm saying it's it's still highly improbable.

I mean, here's the one thing I'll say, Tank Davis doesn't get enough credit for actually how strategic and thoughtful and what a careful decision maker he is. Everyone talks about his power, which is legit, but that's not the only story about him. Devin Haney doesn't have that. He doesn't have Tank's power, but he's got a lot of that boxing ability, if not more, that's for debate, but certainly he's on par if not an excess of it. Ryan can't break that guy down. He just has to get lucky. You're not going to make Devin Handy make mistakes. He might make one and then you can take advantage of it. He's not going to make them for a year to get and Garcia is not that guy. So you might be say, oh, it's his best it's his only chance. And I'm still saying even if that's true, it's still exceedingly unlikely for.

Sure, but he's got to lean into his offensive strengths and go after Handy. I don't mean recklessly, but I mean persistent. Behind that quick Jeb, try to throw that left hook he doesn't see coming, and put that pressure.

It's really his only chance. He's not gonna out box him over twelve.

And I think when you look back down in his performance against Tank, he kind of pressed on the gas at the wrong times, did it too sloppily, and then once he got knocked down by Tank, the rest of the time he's just sort of, you know, scared and circling away. There can't be any of that if he's going to play the role of this crazy guy that's trying to fool all of us, and I think he has to play that role in the ring too, That's all I'm saying that. And if he's gonna do that, and if this is his only chance, and maybe he recognizes that, that's fine. But with the whole question of not knowing exactly where he's at and how much of this is an act or it isn't, I don't know, Like, I don't think this is going to happen, that him and Derek James are working on ironing out all of the technical problems in his game, and that he's gonna come out behind his jab and box from distance and suddenly surprises, No, that's not gonna happen, right, So he's got to come out there and be offensive and go after him early in that and in that sense not likely that he gets the job done. But I still need to see it, Luke, I still need to see it because I don't know where Ryan Garcia is going to go from it. If it's back to back, big knockout, lots of good.

Fact, I was just gonna ask back to back stoppages, what happens? We're not back to back because I think he tank fighter.

Here's the thing. It's like, I know he's trying to fool us, and he is in the great shape, and he is putting in the time supposedly in there, but he's all over social media so aggressively and trying to lead people in every other way. Is he really studying the opponent? Is he really like living it mentally where he needs to be? Luke, I feel like he's got one I feel like he's got one foot out of the door already in this sport. I feel like he's obsessed with the influence scene. He's obsessed with trying to lure the Paul Brothers into some trash talk laure O'Malley. I don't think Ryan Garcia wants to be here long run. In the long run, I think that's why he looked at the options and said, Okay, let's do Hainy. Now, let's just rush into it. I don't think if he gets knocked out brutally, I don't even think it's like, Okay, well now he's American and he's still going to want to do big fights whatever. Like, I question what Roady's going to go down after that, because I don't think he really wants this. And I think maybe in some degree, even though I'm trying to talk myself into the idea that maybe he's playing this character because it leads into his best and only chance to be the crazy offensive force early in that fight, maybe he also knows that he doesn't have the true discipline to do this and to truly get through the holes in his game, And maybe this is his way of making a lot of money and a lot of noise and then transitioning that star into something else he's got. You know, he's trying to sing, he's trying to act, he's trying.

To The tickets for this fight are not selling well. I don't know how it will do on pay per view, probably pretty well. This is what I was thinking about. Tell me if you think I'm onto something here. On the one hand, Ryan is making a lot of headlines with his behavior and that is attracting some attention, But at the same time, it's not attracting the same kind of attention that he had with Tank, where there was like this aspirational, this kid might do it. This is more like, oh, he might self distrust this is xpot I'm kind of watching, I'm kind of watching through my fingers a little bit with his am I onto something with this? This is go home?

He and pro wrestling, this would be like your your too cringe, You're too much like just go away. Yeah, he's getting that response. That's why I'm saying this is more of a negative to his brand and the potential pay per view sales. In my opinion, that he's acting this way because at least in the Tank one, in the build to that, he was leaning on the idea I'm unbeaten, I'm this star, I'm not afraid of this challenge. I'm gonna go after I'm daring to be great, And now it feels like he's just daring to potentially cash himself out unless he has really put his This is the greatest troll job ever and he's gonna come out there and be better than he ever has. Obviously give him that chance. I can't wait to see this fight, Luke. I'm kind of regretting I'm not going to be there in person, but because I think it's going to be a spectacle. And I do think Devin Haney wants to again despite all this Ryan craziness. He's going to use Ryan's star power to rub up against him, probably going to get the win. And now you can go from Walmachenko to Regis program at one forty and getting a title. Ryan Garcia Boutsennis just got signed a match room under the disone.

Let's let's say let's say Hanni gets a great win similar to Tank. Whatever that means, what ends up happening to Devin Haney the rest of twenty twenty four.

I don't think anyone's going to rush into a Boutsenna's fight. There's no money there necessarily forty seven, right, You're gonna have to build to that.

Hani.

I think we'll eventually go to welterwait and I think will be a force there.

Oh I do, I do.

I see the body, I see the ability to filch the shielder in body, the long arms, but I think there's enough fun names at one forty. The whole idea of him, can he ever get Tank into some type of catchway fighter. Will Tank come up to one forty of him? If if haney star gets big enough, well, if he goes out there and knocks out Ryan Garcia after the build that we have had here, his star will get even higher. I think you look at Subrial Matias, who has a belt, you look at a lot of the big names that we're at thirty five moving up, I think he'd be more likely to fight a Shaker Stevenson who's smaller than he would fighting a Tennis who is bigger and arguably just as or more dynamic than Haney. So I just think either way, Hane's going to be in a great spot. And remember he signs very short contracts with promoters and networks, and he's always ready to bowl for the big advantage. I'd love to see him against Tank, So I'd love to see him stay at the lower way classes as much as possible, and then knowing in his thirties he can be a big money welterway dude.

Him versus Tank would be absolutely electric magic.

It'd be absolutely fantastic.

And then so so wait you live in Connecticut, why don't you going too? Because you're gonna be on tour this whole week.

Yeah, I will be on. I will be hosting the three remaining dates of the Baddest Tour Diz versus Model.

So here it is.

They're gonna fight June first the Forum in Englewood on pay per view, and the tour will continue. We did Friday in Las Vegas, Tuesday night in Times Square at the Palladium, Wednesday in Miami outside and then concluding Friday in Los Angeles and uh Miami to La La.

Back to Hartford flight.

Those are long flights, Yeah, I mean I flew from vacation home, flew the next morning to Vegas, got in the afternoon, hosted that guy in the Red Eye home, slept all day, covered three hundred and UFC three hundred until went to bed at four something am. Prash yesterday, was on the train at four forty five am this morning, and here we go, Luk, So all right it.

Is, I'll take us in.

He's here, all right, Our guest is here.

You know him, right?

You know him?

Miami's own the original Baddest motherfucker or hey, masvidoal in the house. June first, the rematch that's five years in the making against Nate Diaz, this time Luke Thomas in a boxing ring. We welcome in Jorge Masvidal Orgy. The Baddest Tour continues this week. Thank you so much for joining us. Let's start right there. Man, you fought Nate Diaz UFC two forty four BMF title, now a boxing rematch. Did you always know that you were going to get that second chance against Nate?

I'm not getting a chance.

Maybe maybe like my change, you mean, like the murderers as but uh shit, I always wanted to fight, you know, just it wasn't gonna happen immediately after because I get offered the world title fight, you know, that's what it chases since I joined the sport. And then after that I get out for the number one I mean, I get off to fight for the title again, and then doing that, Nate's not really fighting during that time when his team's not really want to co operate. So I go and fight the number one guy in the world after that, and then after I don't win the pot, the number four guy in the world Snake was out of the UNFC, so my point, my view was like I'm just gonna take the biggest and best fights that I can. You know, the Snake fit will happened at some point, you know. But I said that the fight would happened, and now it's happening, you.

Know, happening in the boxing ring June first. We got a lot more to get to that. But when you get the original BMF right here, and we're coming off of UFC three hundred or hey, and you see what Max Holloway did to Justin Gatchee, I got to get your immediate reaction from one BMF to another here of what went down Saturday.

Man, from start to finish, from topped about maybe the greatest card that I've been a part of. Lives like that I've had to see live. You know, Holy smokes man. I I didn't pay for my tickets, but I gladly would have. You know what I'm saying. From the start to finish was just amazing. Every performance, all the fights were just spectacular. I mean, there's so many fights that could have just been a main event all of its own on a huge show.

It's crazy how much great fight taken.

That's in One night Violence Action sweet signs that Mma is as well.

Everything about that I was amazing.

Then you talk about the Max Holloway fight, Wow, I mean both of them are going at it. Gage had a lot of overstand the Obviously in my scorecard, I had Max in it, so he didn't have to do the hate ten seconds less left. Let's gamble it up, you know. And I've always stopped before the belt. Whether he would have won it or not, Max is one of the badest motherfucker did ever lived. You know, had he lost that night, by whatever outcome, I still would have been like, that's one bad motherfucker. The way he carries him something inside the ring and outside of the ring, the way he competes.

I think he's always.

Been everybody's favorite fighter and fighters favorite fighters as well.

So number of props to Max, man, because that's the way you do it.

That's the only way that being titles gotta go, man, somebody's got to go out fold and you gotta be even it all on the line every fucking time you step in there for that belt, you know. And I'm gonna be a methis know for having the fastest knockout. I think somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Max has like the latest closest to the hell and the knockout. That's gotta be the fucking craziest. Uh.

I don't know what he would call it, but that's just amazing, brother, that's fucking a major.

Or Hey, we have a situation where Gaetschie got put out cold. Someone asked me this. I don't know the answer, Maybe you do. The question was, is justin Getche gonna be the same? What do you think.

Just as one of these guys just keeps coming back like he's lost a couple of stoppages before. I think how many times has he's been finishing the UFC Handful d got him one, Dustin definitely got him once, and I know there's other finishes that I'm not quite remembering right now. So usually when every guy that gets knocked especially the first time, I go, man, so he's interesting to see him come back and how they're gonna come back, you know.

But in this one in particular, I just don't know.

Because Gage always just finds a way to come back and put on great shows and keep fucking winning.

But this one was bad. His he was out I was there live.

He was out for a good amount of time, maybe like two minutes, you know, and then when he's good when they set him up, still like visibly hurt.

So I hope he makes a fool recovery, comes back to sport strong and never. But you just don't know when you take a knockout like that, you know, especially the whole fight. It wasn't just that. It was like a lot of abiet on both of their bodies.

I thought Gaigee got the short end of the stick, was taking more abuse a while, and his nose two mans just round one with that spinny kick looked like it was stored. So that's another thing that you gotta take into consideration. This fight might have took a lot of years out of GATESMN.

Hell of a fight indeed. Are in terms of the return of Conn mcgregord, which they announced for UFC three zero three is gonna be against Michael Chandler, what are your expectations or hey, do you think he looks like the guy from at any point from earlier in his career or at age thirty five basically thirty six at this point and still trying to fight MMA, It might be curtains for him.

I I care about today drug test, that motherfucker. That's it, you know, the support clean motherfucker's getting tested and that's it, bro. And other than that, we won't know to that date. You know, physically you can look the way aesthetically you could have ads and your shoulders could be popping down and your chaps could be by your ear. But bite wise you really don't need shit, you know. So I just I don't know who's who's gonna step in that cage that day.

Or Hey, we saw you more or less retire after your fight against Burns in Miami, and now this brings you out of it for June first, when we're going to see you the rematch with Nadez, this time in the pro boxing ring fan Meo pay per view. What was that process for you and saying I'm not done yet, There's more left in this tank. You've had a successful run with your game Bread promotion, whether you're doing boxing bare knuckle MMA, which has.

Gotten a lot of exposure of late.

Is it easy to turn that light switch back on when the phone call came in and put the gloves on this time in the boxing.

Ring, stalk about it my camera man's smoking practice and ship say the question, and.

You know what was that process internally of making the decision to come out of retirement and this time going back into pro boxing? You where you turn pro back in two thousand and five.

Man one, I can't go out with an l definitely, though it's a different sporting and stuff. I just felt like I had to get the competitive move team. I always wanted a box. I obviously think that I was tied to the U S, but the UC granted me this in this great opportunity came manches to make more money and provide for me and my family to fight another legend in the sport that's done a mating thing in the sport.

So I definitely want to go down.

And then there we have the little history that you know, he thinks in his own head and keeps only one thinking that the fight was called on justly. Okay, let's do it. I'm gonna silence see then you bro, there'll be no questions about it. And Nate's always been one of these guys how that is having the best hands in the ub See, I've always felt I got the best hands in the ub C bar none so let's go find out.

Let's prove it.

You know, you mentioned that you asked UFC for permission. I believe there's a pay per view card that same night.

Is it?

Is it all kosher the way this is going to work out with June first?

Yeah, yeah, I saw coach. They have to give me the permission first. They got to give me the green light or nothing could happen. You know, the truth fight fans, as you guys know, be watching both you know, bam bam tuning in, have the two DV split up, and you.

Know, so there's gonna be a great fucking night of combat.

Man, will we look back or hey at UFC two forty four in the first chapter in this rav between the two of you and the BMF title and such a big deal at that point. When you look back, how were you able to handle Nate the way that you were? Because while that fight did have the storyline of let's say, you know, the early stoppage and all that you rewatched those three rounds you handled him, how were you able to do that with that ease?

I dropped him once per round, so definitely, you know it was it was very favorable for me.

I think a lot of it was just the homework I was able to do on Nate and see weaknesses that he had that that I'm not bad at. You know, that I'm actually decent at. I can kick, you know, I can knee all right, and I got decent elbows, you know. And Nate kind of stayed always in this non evolution of I'm just gonna box in jiu jitsu.

Cool. Everything you don't do, I'm gonna use it against you.

So I didn't give him to take that not the best wrestler, and that's why I was able to hurt his body and the foots of the faces would dropped him on his aster the first one, you know, to his benefit in boxing, I can't do them things. So he's got some things going from at least. But that body showed the week, got the same body that he had back then. So I'm going to attack that body, living ship out of his body, you know. And uh and the first one, man, I just it was my moment. Was wasn't no stopping that. It was in great shape, didn't have no no real injuries going into that fight. So I just have to show up and show out. President Trump was there walked out my favorite fight of all times, grow way till the round and the rock wrap the belt around my waist and there was no way I could lose that frotherfucker, man.

What did you see? Jorge and Nate diaz is boxing match with Jake Paul? What did you see?

You know?

I saw the match, and uh, there's a lot of things that took from it, like tendancyason habits, but that that wasn't like the Nate that I'm accustomed to. At least it didn't look like he took Jake seriously. It didn't like he was running his mouth, just his body didn't.

Look at you know.

So I don't want to I don't want to get a false confidence and be like that's the guy in fighting. Nate knows that he's not a hundred percent prepared for me. He goes to sleep because he knows that I have those intentions in me. It's not I'm not I'm not trying to fight with you and point at each other and fucking giggle it up.

In the ring like you know, I don't got to say it, but everybody knows I'm quite the opposite. But I'm trying to do my fucking job.

My job is to execute separate myself from me as much as I can, and that's it, you know. So I didn't I didn't think that either of them were like in the best shape of their lives, are actually like mean.

Motherfuckers, and showed the resport, showed the sport.

Of boxing and respect and needed because boxing is not a game and you gotta be in tip top shape and fucking give.

It your off.

Men, What is the plan?

Okay, so you really want to see fake Gili?

I remember that? Okay? So what you're now out of retirement? You got to fight June first with Nick Diaz. What is the I don't what you call it post retirement plan? Like, now that you're back, what are you trying to get out of this next chapter of your life?

Well, the UFC allowed to, uh come back for three boxing matches. That's exactly what I'm gonna do. Nas the first of them, and then we're gonna go after some big boxing names, some household names in the boxing business, and uh, well you get to it, man, You're gonna fight these motherfuckers, sell these pay per views, kick a lot of ass, fucking throw the garbage in the trash, you know, and then uh he allowed me to do these conditions with one fight, to come back for the youth, seeing and buck some people up there. So first take care of business one foot in front of the other. Got Nate, which she's not no slouch or joke. But take care of business then and just keep him moving, man. See what else happens, and see who I end up fighting, you know, and got some good opponents possibly lined up.

I can't say names.

Nobody's officially signed yet, but we're working on that. Uh So after the fight, we'll be announcing who it is and where it is. And then one those to be done unofficially retired from the youth see your boy come back.

Is the UFC getting a cut of any of your earnings by like in order to get you to get because you're getting fights? Do they get a part of it at all? We can't hear what happened.

That's because I can't say nothing. You got him?

Uh?

I want to I want to ask look that the Baddest Tour will continue this week Tuesday night Times Square in New York City, open to the public, will be there Wednesday in Miami Friday in La How do you read nay. It's always hard to read nay right. And it was like we talked about on Friday, it was a little it was a little cordial when you fought at UFC two and forty four, a lot of respect. I hear the trash talks mounting up. Do you get the feeling when you look at Nate's eize and the face off that you're gonna get the absolute best of him?

June first, Well, you know that that trash talks started happening on the bad uh and as you started happening when when he started just talking crap. You know, after the first fight, he called me a coward, like the worst things you can call another man. Especially in my fifty fights. I've never quit. I've never not came out of my stool. Another interesting fact is I've never tapped. And they say the same thing. So I'm not calling people to tap quitters, but I'm not even in that realm like a tap. I've actually gone to sleep or got in my ankle on my arms severely fucked up rather than tap.

And I just won't happen.

I won't tap out, I'll fucking I'll go to sleep or find a way to get out of it. But it's just not even in my in my thought processing. I don't give a fuck what I have to go through. But I'm not I'm not in the tap. I'm not going to quit some friend to say those things like they trying to hurt my feelings because I just rearrange your face. But that sticks with me for life, Like I'm not. I'm not that dude, you know, so I not that allowed to respect for him.

But I'm like, all right, cool, you want to you want to do the ship talking route, let's fucking go. Because I could talk shit as well. You know, I could ask them how does my foot taste? And shit like that. You can't say the same thing to me ever, know, uh or.

Hey, there's been mythical creatures in the history of combat sports that we love, whether it's twenty thirteen Vitor bell Ford, Sea Level, Kane Velasquez, how about twenty nineteen Jorge Mosvidal, the consensus fighter of the year. When you look back at that calendar year in your life, and we've told that story so many times of you coming out of the woods in Central American reality show and being all focused on baptism, what did that year do for your life, your brand, your image, your career, everything.

Person foremost lowly to God. God gave me the vision, the plan when I was in the jungles and dr and I had a plan and then myself, sixteen years of combat, I was able to you know, reverse engineer it, do all the detailing I needed to really figure out what I wanted to do that for my career. And when I initially went to the show, you know, between the injuries and not being able to get a fight, part of me was like, maybe I'm just done with the sport, you know, maybe it's time to move on, provide another route for my family, you know. But as I got away from the TV, the music, everything, and you really get in tune with yourself and you secluded from the world and nobody can interfere with my thoughts that are going up here.

Just one thing can come into mind. Here, I need to I need to come back and fight. Need to fight. Fight. And in that I you know, as I've said many times, I came up with a with a plan, and I put that plan in.

Use and pull I was nineteen Fight of the Year, knock Out of the Year record holder, belt holder so it just showed when you come up with a plan with the grouprint for yourself, just have a lot of conviction and gasoline behind it and get to it, you know.

And it's the same thing now, Man, I got a I got a good plan for my comeback right.

Now for his next boxing matches, and then I comeback in the You seeing really hurt some people. So I'm happy to say here in morning combat with you brothers said they're no MMA as well as anybody else. I'm gonna come back and snatch some souls up.

Man, can't wait, can't wait, it all goes down, You got, I got one, I.

Got all right before you go, quickly, give me a prediction, A real prediction, gun to your head kind of prediction, Jake, Paul, Mike Tyson, what happens?

I don't, brother, Luke. I mean, I don't even know.

The exhibition is at sixty nine gloves, it's too many rounds, there's all these factors.

I just don't even know.

Man.

You know, my Mike, you know, is an old man.

No matter how you see it, you know, it's one of the fucking greatest everybrades I've ever lived yet. But that was like almost thirty years ago. So I don't know how Mike's can show up to the fight, you know, I don't. I don't think Jake is the greatest boxer or like exceptional anywhere with powers feet, But man, she still can't take away that the father time gets to everybody, you know.

So I I just don't know. I'm not leaning any which way. I just I really don't know too many factors there.

The SI interesting stuff. June first, the Forum in Los Angeles, Fan MEO pay per view Chapter two two Combat Sports Icons. It's Jorge Moswell and Nate d As Part two and Jorge, we can at you Tuesday Night Times Square Fanmeo YouTube page. All the Baddest Tour continues with you and Nate go and face to face. Thank you for joining us. We wish you a lot of luck in Hey, drop a few g's at that store. Okay, get some nice slacks or something right there.

Okay, I'm doing that, you guys.

Thank you, game bread poor Hey mos v doll good stuff, Yeah, good stuff right there. Luke to kind of put a button on where we're going.

The drug testing thing, O'Connor is fucking.

Hilarious, by the way, We'll just put a button on. What's going on Saturday, the Big boxing pay per.

View, Hayley Garcia at the Barclay Center.

Do Zone pay per view, and of course Hani versus Garcia, no.

Question, do Zone pay per view, Handy Garcia. That's the only place selling it because sometimes it's like ESPN plus dot.

Com also, and of course Jim Lampley, our friend Dan Kenobio, Chris al Jerry doing work there. And tickets for this fight still available. You can purchase tickets for Garcia versus Haney at ticketmaster dot com. We laid out storylines, the expectations, the whole debate about Ryan Garcia. He has got people interested prediction what actually happens. How does this fight break down Saturday night.

I think that Ryan Garcia is probably gonna do what you say, which is he's gonna stalk Devin Haney, and Devin Haney is going to be a little bit offensively muted to start. He's going to use a lot of footwork, a lot of ringcraft, a lot of clinching, a lot of grabbing, a lot of holding and then getting out of the way. But here's the thing. What we know about Devin Haney one of the best jobs in the lower way classes, maybe one of the best jobs in all of boxing. He is consistent with it. It comes from low to high. It establishes range, it establishes everything else he can do. Once that gets cooking round three, round four, it's going to be curtains for him. And the other part two is I think Garcia is going to be put back into bad habits. I do think you're going to see that shoulder roll. I do think you're going to see him extend with his chin wide open, and he's gonna get caught with it. So could there be a couple of dangerous moments throughout the fight, but certainly early for Devin Haney. Probably so. But skills win fight. He is vastly more skilled, he is vastly more dialed in. I think we get a stoppage after somewhere after round nine.

I think it might even be earlier. It depends how crazy this fight actually gets. I think the best case scenario though, is if Garcia can come out catch that China Haney early and at least at least make some pockets of a really fun action. We got to see what happens. God does Ryan Garcia have a secret that he's hide in front us. You know what I mean?

Is there something he's more crazy?

It might be it there Saturday night, his own pay per view from the Barclays in Brooklyn. Can't wait for that one, all right, Luke, We close this fantastic episode of Morning Combat here with what we do every Monday. Right when I scour the globe for like the highs and lows, fart in the elevator, good, the bad, the ugly, the in between. There might be some flatulence than some elder abuse. We call this. Have you seen this shit?

All right? There better be some goddamn elder abuse.

Luke, I'm I'm proud to announce all of our ship made it through the sensors this week.

It's because the sensors went on vacation. So this one, this might be the last one we do.

All right.

We start off UFC three hundred from Las Vegas, and Luke, we talked about al Joe having a good fight against Calvin Cator but not getting the love and respect. How about that power bomb.

It's not a feel power bomb because he didn't speck him on his head. If you knows, he moves back and so he lands him on his shoulders. So I'm telling you, dude, did he did he blow up the world and be like, oh I gotta see al Joe?

No?

No, did he show you that he is a force to be reckoned with? Yeah?

He did. Captain and Sano would have loved that, right there, no question about that is all right. Amanda nunas we mentioned, was watching at home when Kayla Harrison took care of Holly Holm. Let's go to that video. She was waiting for the call out that never happened. I just love that She's like, hey, guys.

I'm still willing. Here's the thing. It's like, oh, you didn't call me out? Aren't you retired?

True? But that would have been tired, you know, Manda Nuna's get your shit together and look, you know that would have been.

A good movie. Yeah. That's when John Jones was like, just you know, Prenn the Chicks and cars.

This was more about Kayla's moment and but this is good news for women to have made, no question about it. Let's go to armand Saryuki and Luke. You didn't get the knockout of Charles Olivera. I know he didn't get a ko.

On the walkout though, check this out.

I love Dana afterwards like yeah, shoot, all right job tire Long Island.

If you didn't see it. When he goes by someone someone said f you to him as he's walking out, some fam just a fan. He stopped. Here, we go, there, we go watch watch this guy? What the fuck you say, bitch? And someone asked him about it. Afterwards he goes, guys, you can't talk this way to me. I'm from Rassha. This is you know what's going to happen. I'm like, that's a fair point.

Even datas afterwards, like, you know, you pay your buddy for that seat.

You can talk your ship, but what do you expect? You know what I gotta tell you Normally, you know, obviously we don't want people fighting in the stands. We don't want the palace brawl, right, but I gotta tell you a little palace at the malice for deserving show.

Zack, your boy is right here for Stevid Jackson. Steven Jackson would get our back to and run.

Steph Jackson will look at this and be like, yeah, obviously talk that.

Yeah, Luke, we mentioned that you had such a great reaction to that Ko that it looked like you were at you know, six Flags Great Venture or insert what's your what's your old King's dominions, Virginia Bush Gardens. Somebody on Twitter here really took this to the next level. This is your meme of the week. Let's watch this Looke going down Space Mountain. Shout out to at Joe Jaggy on Twitter or Instagram. Luke, hands up all the time. Come on, let's go on the hills. Yeah, oh Luke, it's such a gift. You are such a gift to the show.

You know what I don't. I'm not going to hide from my fandom. It's real.

Shout out othello, my guy. Right there, let's go, Luke. Busy weekend outside of UFC three hundred in Las Vegas, including the baddest store Luke in which don't bring up Jake Paul's name around mazvit all ardeas.

No, they don't get too sized for it.

What did you learn about yourself in that process?

Here?

Oh, Nate? A lot of times. I don't know who hosted that, but that guy's a fucking more.

Yeah, he addresses bad too. Wow. Date was answering a lot of questions with like the microphone like behind his back.

He doesn't like it's called shit. Hear you, sir?

All right, let's keep it going. Also in Vegas, Luke Power Slap seven and you know how sometimes they get these catchers. You gotta do your job though, right.

The head flopped. You know, I didn't see this. There's a guy I think he calls himself fight Ghost on Twitter. He's like one of he's hardcore. Fair Well. What he was saying was there was a bunch of upsets on this car, people who were champions. He said, uh, but what happened was like these are guys who've been knocked out before. He was saying that, like the chins go in this sport quickly, like once they take one of these, they're there's no coming there.

These catchers their job is to live like they have forced Griffin do this sometimes.

Now to tell you, I don't mind that they don't do their job. I'm not really going to cry.

Hey.

Dana did say Saturday that he expects celebrity crossover sooner than later in Power Slip that I hope that doesn't mean X fighter x UFC fires. I really hope, Like I do you want.

I mean, like, is this is this gonna be like the acting equivalent of bang bus, where like if you can't even be on like free TV anymore, you just got to go figure out.

Like, dude, if like Roy Nelson check Congo are squaring off in this soon, like I'm out, dude, I'm I mean I was already out, but like, yeah, I've been in. Yeah, I wouldn't say I've been missing it. Also in Vegas, Luke was the PFL like you mentioned, you.

Wouldn't know it. By the way, I'm not listening to me. Good show, Good show, Zeo Row.

Buzz Well, Cassius Clay Collar did make it on the ship here he's pa tricky Pipple.

Look at this nineteen punch combination. Who's the top rank matchmaker on Twitter? Uh? Brad Jacobs, Brad Goodman, No, it's not Bus Trampler, Tom Something Corn Something Corn. Yes, yeah he was. He was so because remember during the pandemic they collared fought in boxing for top rank. During the middle of that, all the top rank guys were apparently watching this and we're celebrating on Twitter afterwards. So good for Clare.

You beat the crap out of patricky people a right there. That was a good finish and also top rank boxing Luke on the undercard, twenty year old Dominican heavyweight Ali Feliese got a knockout in his pro debut, and he did it against a guy. He did it against a guy in sweatpants and Jordan's Luke.

But that happens. I mean, could your could your trunks be higher? These trunks both cover my waist and titties.

Oh boy, there's that was on the Jared Anderson undercard in Texas.

All right, let's keep it going, Luke.

Unfortunately, for some ri p not just Gary Shaw, but O Renhal, James Simpson and very very uh polarizing reception to include this picture.

I don't by the way, Aeriel, if you're looking at this, I don't make these. I don't make these these. Uh what you make it like?

This is the react, the reaction he has told.

Me the story to how they met. I forget what it was. I don't. I don't recall anymore.

Which guy would you rather go on across country trip? But that's really the question. No, that's not unfair, Luke, all right.

Poll one of them's dead. One of them's dead, yeah.

And by the way, I've never seen rightfully so this many people come out after somebody died and been so aggressively negative.

And you know what's kind of funny. I saw a lot of people who were like twenty years old who weren't around for the OJ trial. We were in high school during the trial. Let me tell you something. Put the camera on me.

As you often say, it's not your fault, cameraman that you were born in nine camera.

Listen. If you were born in twenty one and you think OJ is not guilty, you're a fucking moron.

Fuck You're like, all right, okay, look, let's keep it going. Did you hear Clarissa Shields disc track aimed at Alicia.

Well, that's how it goes, right, Yeah, Well, trying to come with me at least to come harder. You read what you sell, not them. What a bomb?

God even your bess that you.

Couldn't hurt me? What I look like?

Thirty four bit that drop dirty nigga?

Yeah, well, apologies for the end word. I can't do the N word part. The rest of its sound spirited.

That's not bad. Like Ryan Garcia's video when he was singing recently, was real weird.

But Ryan garcia Is is the worst thing I've ever heard short of an animal being tortured. Okay, this is better than that.

Do you want to see this fight because they were they had to be separated at a fight recently in person?

Yeah? Actually I do. I mean, I don't know if it makes sense when the weight classes, but in terms of rivalry, it's fun.

It's interesting. New sport alert, Luke, you've heard of mud wrestling, right?

Have I?

Have you heard of mud boxing? This has got to be Russian, right, Just too slot Russian for CT I'll tell you that much. Lucas is an interesting theater writer. Who you got the guy covered in JIT or the other guy covered?

I don't think either of these guys are going to be anywhere near a Nobel Prize committee's attention.

Remember that Don Fry fight and pride is what I mean.

It's like when people get Darwin Awards. It's like due not everyone's meant to live.

I mean, Luke, one of my favorite follows on Instagram is that guy with the fart machine.

Luke, you know what I'm talking about? Actually don't. It's gonna be fun. I have not seen this all right, who can't touch this?

All right, my cart, that's my cart.

I think that's sure, ye, So Luke shout out to super stupid poop on Instagram. I harassed my kids with these videos constantly, like you do.

I tell you, I gotta tell you. These pranks, I usually don't like them, but the fact that he makes eye contact.

He holds the mirror up in Walmart and watches people's eyes.

Through the mirror, which the fact that he makes eye contact is such a filthy, dirt bag thing to do. I have no choice but to respect it.

All right, Let's go to the hey man. We played Flip Cup or not Flip Cup beer park with the man point guys, and I would clutchy ship.

And I got the first one and then nothing there, and then I took us home.

Let's check in on this game.

I got a few fellows playing here on some Plywoods astros Jersey there, Yeah, come in fucking lose her ass franchise. Why don't you go bang on garbage camp? Okay, okay, I gotta tell you though, that's part of the whole thing. I one time played at my fraternity house and a guy was looking for a place to vomit and he just picked up like a traffic cone, which of course is open, and so the vomit just went right through. We were like, maybe don't do that. Yeah, you end up running for office later. By the way, Yeah, I did not get over and Barry lukeoa crack out his job back. Let's forget that.

We don't have elder abuse this week, but we do have some child abuse. We haven't had this in a while.

Is that abuse?

I think that's how she got pink eye.

That's how I'd like to get Okay, Luke, you've heard that famous phrase. Nothing a double leg couldn't figure out. Here you go the skits and I was waiting. I was like, when MK comes back, how long before the Reddit skits and bits hit going? Didn't take long? That's not fair at all.

But speaking of that, Luke, watch this double leg.

Just double legg as motherfucker down. You know what, both of you just stay down there, Just stay down there, Lucas.

Time for the T shirts of the week, and you know this always gets a big six. I'm gonna get you this for.

Your prediction awareness. Latin Latina halick guiltiest shark.

Yes, would you wear that?

Proudly.

Okay, I wish we could do what was that old bit we had on the wheel impromptu improv Luke, where we could pretend that you have to stand up and say my name is Luke Thomas. I don't like that bit, Latina hallick.

Okay, let's keep the t shirts going. Let me read it out for the folks listening on the podcast platform. This gentleman here whose mouth breathing, has a shirt that says anyone can masturbate under a sheet, but it takes real skill to do it without the hairdresser noticing. Okay, all right, you.

Should read the next one.

I really don't think let me see the next one. Okay, my man's shirt, I'm gonna read it, no doubt. Hucocky ruined my carpet.

And the show apparently.

Okay, there you go.

A couple more left, Luke, Well, look at the handle on this.

The censor's more on vacation. I mean you snuck them all in.

Would you grab that, Luke with two hands or one?

You know what. It's a little cold, but we can make things happen.

And speaking of the former UFC, have wait shops taking this tunetn thing to the extremely right.

Tell me that's not him. That's not him, right, this is some other video.

No it's not him?

Okay, Uh, maybe what the fuck are you idiots doing?

All fuck?

That was me when Max Holloway knocked out justin gegee. That's how I felt. That's how I felt, dude, What the fuck are these dude? These two fucking idiots. This is why they made seatbelts. It's for fucking morons like that.

Yes, that's your ship of the week. I hope you've seen it there, Luke. Okay, that's what it is.

Hey?

Was that the best two hours?

In comments for it? Too real quick? I would have liked to have gone longer, but we have limited time in studio because they got to turn around for the next fucking Uh.

What do you say to the people that are like, man, I'm so happy MK's back, but wish it was more. But I wish it was MK all day, damn near every time people.

You know, it's funny we made that that video announcing we were back, and people claim to have heard it. I don't think that they actually did, or the.

Five hundred references that the last three months didn't go to plan, but that we will get there step by sting.

We did, and we did. So it's the same thing. It's like, are there discussions right now about doing additional days? Are we actively talking about it and potentially planning it? Yes, as as a matter of fact, we are.

Are we going to expand our team and our operation over going to.

Live by the way? May fourth, We're supposed to be going to the Canelo fight. So like Peace, I told you guys, we're gonna have to rebuild brick by brick, but we're on the way. We're on the way.

One more time, Luke for three hundred? Can we pour one out?

Can we do it?

Celis riba else else?

Gundo, Luke, I forgot my wallet again. I will say though that like it restored my faith and why I do this, why I love this, why I would stay up to four am.

It was one of the greatest one. I mean, for not having been there in person, that's probably one of the greatest emotions I've ever felt watching fight.

Has there been a UFC car that you came out of there more more jacked up?

More in terms of like what one fight did to me.

I mean, it's hard to be kar When Lesner won sixteen that.

The closest one I can think of. That one was insane and also like it's different because boxing is different, but Bud sustain sustaining his beating of arrows ends was just like continuously shocking, you know what I mean? This was like Max did really well. Then there was this like incredibly punctuated moment that one had the knockdown in the second round or second or third round, whatever it was, and then he just never let off the fucking gas. That was a little bit different for me.

But I have to say, like was there not every fight was perfect on this card, but like the intensity from fight I could not wait for the next fight every single time. It was you know, normally you're like, okay, I got this amount of time before the main card, I'll just kind of casually watch this.

No, like it was like the old the old days, Lucas, like we did even the fights of people were bitching about like the androgen Hadriguez fire, Like did that need to be there?

Man?

Now you can debate that, but it was fine. It was like there was nothing wrong with that. It was it was competitive, It was on the feet, like they didn't like, you know, stall it out like it just it just delivered. I was thinking about this too, like MMA moments, what Max did. We were talking about, because people are comparing it to fight endings, and I don't think on pure Chao terms it can hold up in terms of fight endings. On pure Kao terms, yeah, it's vicious, but again what what Jaqing Buckley did. But when you think about MMA moments, due to me, I'm gonna put this one right up there with the staredown between Lawler and McDonald in their fight, right up there with a showtime kicking right out there.

That fight is actually better I don't think I told you this before than McDonald versus versus the uh the other guy?

What what? What language are you fucking.

I'm speaking Lawler versus Condon. Oh okay, you know a great debate, Luke. You just have to remember what you're talking about. Clearly I'm I have.

But don't you think in terms of moments like the showtime kick was the last WEC fight. It didn't stop the fight, the fight kept going. Yeah, but just as one of those oh shit moments.

Well, it's right up there with the thing that doesn't get enough attention, which is uh, which is the Denver twenty fifth anniversary show with Korean Zombie. Yeah you're Rodriguez because you know, I know, like that was kind of like a contendership fight. It was a fight night card, but I mean that's the ultimate come from behind walk off. This didn't have that because Max was in the lead. But like I said, man, I actually think it's up there with Rowsey Holme. I actually think it's up there with Grilva's front kick, up there with the Matt Hughes slam. I mean, this is one of the greatest, most iconic moments. I'm so happy as a fan forget journalists, just as a fan to even to heaven dured that and yeah, man.

What's your favorite Apex fight coming up?

All right, look, I think you can have a train to catch in another job there. We want to shout out.

I'm done working for the day. Shout out DraftKings, Hey, DraftKings. You could check us out DraftKings Network at five pm for a replay of some of this for folks who may not have gotten it the first time. Of course, it's going to be out on the audio platforms and everything else. So so yeah, and then again one more time, you're going to be here tomorrow for.

The for the Baddest Tour Diz versus mos Vidal too. They're going to go face to face Tuesday night in New York City in Times Square.

By the way, that presser was late East Coast time, and.

For us it was eleven pm East Coast time. It's going to be earlier this time around and around the o'clock hour. And we're going to be Monday Wednesday night in Miami, Friday night in Los Angeles. So it should be good. We'll see. Has the uh the train keeps rolling? What what Nate says here? Luke? All right?

What does Nate say here?

The man a few words? But can Jorge get under his skin? That's a question.

I think he can.

I think you can do great catching up with wars. He had a cols right there was that Nah and M.

I don't know where he was. I know he's in studio with Ariel though. I know that.

Oh wow, that's that's a big booking. That's that's pretty cool right there. Thank you to everybody for watching Morningcombat Dot store for our merch till RJ we said, hi, you can use that promo code live ten right now for ten percent off everything we do, from bomber jackets to all that other bullshit. What else you got anything else?

Chin m. Thanks everyone who watched all my stuff over the weekend. I appreciate that YouTube dot com slash Luke Thomas. That was very very cool. Some stuff to figure out at a Would it surprise you that I had some tech issues? Would it surprise it?

Would not surprise me?

But we fixed them. I fixed them so we were able to hold on and make it work. So thanks to everybody. By the way, people have asking us, you know, as you expand and potentially do more shows, which again we are actively discussing. One thing that they said was, hey, could you guys do like a member's only thing on Morning Combat. We're like, you have to have an uncensured show for members, And I didn't say no, Like is that a possibility BC? I think it is.

I mean, how uncensored is uncensored?

Luke?

You know what I mean?

Like we're going to record it in a bang bust we just call it a day.

I mean, we're not ranking our favorite straweights, right, We're not going too far with this, right, you.

Know pants when they get to the anchor, Yes, people.

Want more content. We want to get paid for more content. We want to be able to provide bonus content. We're working on something. We're in the kitchen cooking up at least for now. Thank you for watching. We're so happy to be back here Malasic Studio.

People think that there was like another thing that we could have done that would have made life easier for everyone else and us, and that.

We just chose not to, Like you promised a whole new thing and nothing changed, all right, And.

We're like, guys, we are playing with the hand we've been dealt.

We say we helped save the show.

Yeah, I don't think people will understand that. There we go. There you want to take us out. No, I'm just out of here, okay, all right, Brian Campbell, it's the King Connecticut. I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you guys so much for watching. Like and subscribe, catch us on your favorite podcast platforms and everything else in between. For b C im l T. This is m K and until next time, all of your gains. Be loyal