UFC 325 Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2 Full Card Breakdown

Revere readily dalks well at the smell tip tip. This is all wine, this is our passion. I'm Luke Thomas. I'm this this Morning Combat.

Morning Combat with the teacher from Charlie Brown's Peanuts.

Wa War to Wah War War.

What's up everyone? It is the thirtieth of January twenty twenty sixth My name is Luke Thomas, and welcome to another edition of Morning Combat. As you can see, I'm joined here. I get well. I got rid of one Connecticut bozo and I'm returned a different one. I just can't quit you Connecticut bozos. It's the iceman himself, Chuckmanton Hall.

Who when did you get home?

Ice Man? How long did that take?

God man, it was a it was an ordeal, Luke. I got I finally got home Monday night. I was supposed to come back on Saturday, but I was going to get hung up no matter where I was at it either it was gonna be Vegas or in connection through Chicago.

So I did what any color Radden would do.

I flew to Denver, watched the Broncos lose there, and then I was able to catch a flight on Monday.

Did you stay with the parents.

I said, I stayed with my sister, and you know, I saw some other family and watched the game with some family and very depressing scenes over there.

Man, Yeah, I was very bitter. I was like, I cannot believe we're gonna let the Patriots go back to the super Bowl again.

Broke unbearable.

The most obnoxious fan base in sports, which is saying, quite well, maybe that's that's a little strong. One of the most obnoxious fan bases in sports, and not even that good of a team, but they just keep advancing. I don't quite get it.

The weather rolled in, man, I don't know if you watched that game, but it was Yeah, it was cold, but then once it like the flurries came in, it just changed everything. It was like neither offense could function.

I saw both kickers miss field goals. If memory serves.

Right, that's an exciting AFC championship right there, when both like, that's what you remember is the kickers missing field goals.

Well, that is now behind us. I guess what's left is the Super Bowl. But of course we have to get to what some sortant to us, which is the fights. And there are a bunch of them this weekend. Today on the show, we're gonna sort of quickly recap some of the numbers that came out from USC through twenty four, which are basically universally good. We're gonna talk about those

We've got like a big so Yahoo itself, the parent company has like they wanted us to do like a big kind of preview of all the things because we got three pretty pretty good one Mega Boxing event and a couple of other box same as plus the Royal Rombo I know you're into that and then us yes, yeah, so we wanted to make sure that it was all one stop shopping. So that's up, and I've got like a round table with Pezz Carroll that's running right now, just asking all the burning questions.

You know, very good. We have one day left for merch sales, one day, so you can go get the Stranger Danger design tomorrow at midnight. We all turned back into a pumpkin. So if you've been putting this off and you want to do it, now is the time. And of course you can go to Morning Combat Dot Shop. Let's bring in our third member here of the program. He is well sober and sometimes not. You just never know what you're gonna get when he's on the game. Hey, Luke, what's.

Up, dude? How you doing?

Guys? How are we doing?

Chuck? What I was gonna ask?

Are you guys in Long Island dealing with what we're dealing with here, which what they're calling snow crete, not concrete but snow.

First of all, Luke, it's on Long Island. Anyone would know that. But anyways, yeah, they actually have a how about that they had this whole overnight thing in my town two nights ago where they brought in like bulldozers to bulldoze out all the excess snow because it was just piling up and like you said, freezing and it was making the town like impossible to walk through.

So yeah, we're dealing with some ship here.

We're supposed to get more too, like today tomorrow, I don't know, but not looking forward to it.

How the mood ahead of the UC three twenty five for you is what I mean.

I'm I told you last three fights man are actually like really exciting the card as a whole.

I don't think he's as exciting as an aussy, you know. I'm looking forward to it full card. Watch along by the way, main Carmen it tune.

In as an ausy. Oh wait wait you have Australian citizenship.

Yeah, motherfucker.

The Australian person in human history.

No, I'm the least Australian Australian in human history.

Maybe, but you know, like I just disappears himself like that's good.

Yeah he is, Uh, he's good for that.

Probably the clouds that's new, that's should show.

We should make your transition into and off the screen, just like like smoke getting shot onto.

The what's that little dude of the little green dude in the Flintstones who like would appear like that's what it's like, you know what I'm talking about.

Like a little green alien whatever?

Yes, yes, Chuck, what's your coverage plan for the weekend?

Uh?

I think that Uh, I don't have like this one. You know what's funny is I for the longest time for all week. And I guess it's because I was so caught up in last week's festivities. I thought that this was an early card for us. I thought this was like one of those two PM type things. Yeah, but you know, I only learned this morning that it was not. So I'll have a late night doing some uh you know, recaps and all that stuff.

But that's about it. I'll have a column coming out.

I always have a post fight column, and then we'll have like some rankings, the pound for pound rankings that will be updated.

Got vulk on there, so there should be some movement.

All right, Well, we have a lot to get to so we started a little bit late. So without further ado, let's get this party started. Topic number one. Let's quickly recap UFC three twenty four. Not the results themselves, we've been over that, but some of the numbers that came out, Chuck, I want to read these to you and then we're

How do you.

Understand what kind of performance this had?

You know, man, I don't know how you felt exactly, about like where this would end up on Paramount Plus. For me, there was a little worry, right because when they went to ESPN Plus, they were kind of the flagship. They were the reason to get ESPN plus. They were the full reason, right Like it was like they're bringing in Okay, now, everybody come over here and we can watch the fights. It wasn't the pay per views, but

You remember this, and we were like.

Yes, it was a little it was Again, it's not quite apples to apples for a few reasons, not least of which was the member. The main event lasted right forty five or whatever it was. It peaked with about eight million, right peaked about, but had an average audience of about five right right right around this.

But I mean, but that seemed absolutely astronomical to us. And I think at the time, where like, who knew that UFC would ever ascend to a level where eight million people, you know, would tune in and watch an event like that. You've cut forward to now fifteen years whatever it is, fourteen years and you get this number, and it's less shocking because the thing has been moving in that direction. But it's not something to take for

So in my mind, I was like, man.

It's it just it's a testament that the UFC is still, if not as popular, it's if it's not growing, it's as popular right now as it's ever been.

Right, I'm not so sure. And when I say I'm not so sure, what I mean is I'm not saying no, I'm saying it. I mean it's weird, right because it's more global than it's ever been. I mean about that, there's just I mean no argument whatsoever. And it also I think has reached levels that are of cultural ascendency that were I mean you mentioned like unfathomable. I mean they're going to have a card on the White House

I do think that right now, you know, coming out of whatever amount of time we were doing pay per views, you know, like coming out of that and you come into an era where the very first card is a pay per view quality card. It's got a title implication. You're supposed to have the women's you know, goat fight of all. You know, it's supposed to be on there between a mandan Unas and Harrison.

It was supposed to be even more stacked. But it was free.

I mean, it seemed like it's free with your sub right, Like, So it's that novelty, is what anybody I talk to that's kind of more of a casual or whatever, like this is the lure, right anybody who kind of wants to watch the fights, but they do not buy them anymore, or they they stream them, or they go someplace they all get together. This was like the big novelty. I

But I'm not sure like that. I made the.

Point in a column when they when they announced this thing that I was like, you know, it's great to get past the pay per view model because nobody has to paper, But there is something about the rallying around and the reverence of a pay per view card that everybody would come to those this These are the ones that were meant to be meaningful, even the people who are just players on the mid card, where the guys that you're like, okay, but they're on this pay per view,

Does all that go away? That's these are the things that I'm like, what happens with that?

And you know, we were talking just a little bit about like, you know, is there is it waning as interest waning?

And you were kind of.

Saying, well, I'm not sure if it might be a little bit, But part of that is the passion, right, like the passion that the fans used to have. The the hardcorees were so into it that they could almost count on a baseline number for those pay per views. So much of that has eroded over time, and I'm not sure how all that's going to translate. Will it still will these will these numbered cards still have that kind of passion attached to them, you know what I mean?

My view on this is and this is just a hunch, so take her for what it is worth. My view on this question of like the removal of the paywall, I mean, they're still a paywall, but you know the pay per view paywall is that it will make a huge difference if they can marry it with both getting a little lucky with how these main events go, and of course that's partly engineering, but part of matchmaking is

You know, well, they also might want to nudge Dana White a little bit, get him interested in its own product again. And if they could do that, you know, maybe they got a chest.

You know.

It was kind of funny over time during that media blitz he was doing, I was thinking about this yesterday, like you know. And it's also paired with the UFC Seattle announcement where he was like Muehler Euler, Yeah, little ben Stein there, and over time he got a little bit better with it. And I'm also gonna say this, he did so many of them that it almost had like, yeah, it was he saying a whole lot each one, maybe not necessarily, but like the like the weight of them

Well?

I think that the first thing is, do you remember the kind of the context as we went into that fight the last time? Like, so, Diego got the fight and uh, I think a lot of people viewed him as one of the heavier punchers in the division, if not one of the best, you know. I remember Dany

I think that would look more exciting. That's just my view it.

Maybe I'm a little bit too die hard on this, but I feel like if Diego goes in there and actually looks like the aggressive guy that he's been advertised as, I think we'd have a different fight.

There's a weird thing I've noticed with this belt, which is people are complaining. And again I'm not even saying the fact I agree. I just want to say I agree if people are complaining, like this is not the fight that should have happened. To what extent do you

Yeah, because and also Diego reminded everybody right like he comes back, he blows up Jean Silva at that Mexican Independence card in San Antonio, like he showed everybody again like this is why you want a guy like that near the top, right, And the fact that he was headhunting that whole fight, like you broke this down right, like you've done like a full analysis of this fight, because it was.

Like three quarter I didn't finish the whole thing, all right, but.

See he kind of you know, even in the even in the last round, like you know, as the fight went on in the championship rounds, it was just like he was still looking to land that shot that was going to equalize the whole thing, which is there is there is something to say about that kind of excitement,

You know, the B role is gonna look very nice for him.

And you could actually point out, even from that first fight the offense that he did have, Like right, you could just zero in on that and you have kind of instant drama as to how it might play out. So I think that he was kind of obvious. You know, he's an obvious guy from the UFC's perspective to jump in there.

You know what's really interesting to me about this fight is this is how do I say this exactly? This is to me. The way in which this has the capacity to be interesting to me is if it answers one or both questions. So one, we kind of already know that Vulcan is chinny. In fact, as you indicated, he got dropped in that fight, it was not a huge punch that dropped him, nor was he like terribly rocked. I think it also just kind of knocked him off

Diego Lopez, I'll do that, then you're gonna be the second man.

You don't want that, Yeah, Diego Lopez didn't cage cut in this fight at all. And I don't know to what extent people know fully what that means or understand the importance of it. But it's really basic idea. All right, if you have here's here's me, and here's me and my opponent. Right, if this is the octagon behind them, octagon behind me, If they move, I don't just follow them wherever they go. When they move, I cut them

Gonna pull out a revolver and shoot my motherfucking screen because you'd just be watching a version of the same fight right and then and then and then the drama is completely out of it off with this. To me, a worst case scenario is like, it's basically just the first fight redone again because one guy refused to learn a foundational lesson. Of the people who don't understand this,

I don't care how senior he is. It's it's suicide. It's suicide. So I gotta tell you. If he starts to cage cut Chuck, I'm like, okay, now we're in business.

This is much more cut.

But if he doesn't, he doesn't, I'm gonna fly to wherever he is and be like, what the fuck doud.

And if you watch like the first Like in the first fight, do you remember part of the commentary they go to the corners in the first round and they kind of hear the instruction. Do you remember the criticism coming out of that was that they're like, hey man, you know you gotta be more gross get after him like break, you know, without any technical advice whatsoever.

To Diego. They were just kind of telling him, like, do better, man, do better. You remember this.

Joe Rogan was kind of he was like, dude, tell him how to do it. Like you're not telling him how to do it. It will be it will be hugely disappointing if he shows up and you feel like he didn't learn anything, because I can guarantee you Volkanovsky who sometimes does it in fight, like you see him doing things where he's like, you know what, off the off these brakes that left that left hand can land pretty like you was doing both counters, like you could

Just think about it this way. Imagine I realized that the first Volkanovski fight is not like the first or the first vocal Lopez is not like Patty Gaichi and says that, you know, the scores are pretty similar, but Patty took much more of a beating, right, Yes, okay, but imagine somebody went to you and said, okay, Patty's

Well, man, I mean, honestly, that's that hypes it up better than a lot of what I've seen, Like I mean to me that if that's the stakes, that's that's not bad because I think sometimes you do need to know does a fighter do they have and IQ that way, part of what you're talking about is you knew he wasn't going to adjust in that fight.

You knew that he was going to keep doing what he was doing.

And therefore, you know, when we talk about plan b's and stuff, there was no plan B, you know what I mean, Like he was showing you exactly what he's going to do.

I'm looking at the numbers here if my if memory serves yes, in fact it does. So he tried to play Lopez tried to play like hurry up offense on Vulcan. If you notice he doesn't effectively cage cut except that he stands a little bit closer to Vulk in the fifth round. But what ends up happening is number one, he gets no tickdowns, he doesn't try for any, but like you know, there's no it didn't change the game

That's what it is?

You're right, And you know what's so funny, man, I pointed this out to you before, like before this fight.

That fight happened in April. I had talked to.

Diego Lopez for a feature the December, so December of twenty four. This is back when they were still deciding if you'd fight a yeah year or if you would end up getting Volkanovsky. And I can remember, man, he was like, I want Vulkanov. His his whole team where they were like, we want Volkanovsky. They felt so confident that they were just going to be able to go through Volkanovsky and that would USh you know, obviously you're gonna have a title, and that would be that.

It didn't work.

And I feel like that they're still like if you from what I've caught, I still feel like they have the same mindset that way, like, hey, the first time was a little bit of an anomaly or whatever it's going to be, but it'll be different the second time. The second time is going to be what we originally imagined.

It's just puncher's chance. That's glorified punches.

That's how he I mean, that's what it looked like.

He looked like he was like, as soon as I land the shot, that's what I need to do, and that's how I win.

Right, Like he was just headhunting.

Uh, if Vulk loses stoppage or otherwise, let's ask this, Okay, in the event that Vulk loses, does he retire? Is there an automatic trilogy? Walk me through what happens?

Okay?

So, like if he got smoked in the first round, like in a way that you're like, oh god, that was hard to watch.

It'd be tough, wouldn't it.

Like I just feel like it'd be tough for Volkanowski because you'd be like, he's probably not going to be in mine for a trilogy because I don't think people would want to necessarily see it. I don't think the UFC would want to put it together. And at that point, I'd be like, man, what is left for volkanovs? Get

Then, yes, I fully agree with that. I think your diagnosis is correct. You saw the way and the excuse be the well the face off from the way in. There's also a pick of a Vulcan in an apron he was he was a chef chopping the block or like I got a sense of humor that he's got the cw was that cooking with Cooking with Vulcan Championship the cmvv WV excuse me, my glasses don't work as well as they need to c WV cooking with Vulcan. He's got good spirits. You know, this is an interesting fight.

He's not shutting that cage we need. I hope there's a I hope we have live footage if you watching that, I'm gonna.

So so I'm gonna do a watch along, just not for the whole card, but just for that fight. And if he does a cage cut, I'm telling you, I'm pulling out two fucking glock nineteens and I'm just gonna be like Deadpool, just shooting that fucking whole setup, furious that I wasted my life watching it. But I'm not I'm not predicting' not paying for and I'm hopeful that Diego proved, you know, proves.

That he's got uc UFC once.

Like right, their druthers would be that you get do because obviously, like if you are making a mostar fight at some point at least there's a backstory there, at least you can play on something and like you've got some you know, better options for him.

Also not for nothing, but they've got one female Brazilian champion and Mackenzie Dern, and they've got one male champion in Poloton and that's it. And I'm not saying that they're trying to engineer an artificially high number of Brazilian champions, but I am saying it's obviously an important market to them. So you know, putting a Brazilian in there and as opposed to a Russian.

Or is he Mexican now, I mean like he's well.

That's the that's the best part you can kind of least to the Mexican audience and.

They want you know, that's true.

Man. Let's talk about the rest of that main car here in topic number three, and you know what, I was discussing this with Long Island Luke. The top three fights on this card are great, So let's start with the other two ones in addition to the main event that make this great, because after that there is a bit of a drop off. I just think it's fair to say that. So let's start with that Cole Maine event.

What happens here, Wow, the BMF would be more realistic to me, right, even though like I feel like the BMF is like for old school guys who've been around for a while. But Dan Hooker, it's crazy, man, because the dude's Dan Hooker, I know exactly.

That's what I was gonna say.

For some reason, when I think of Dan hook I always think of him like, ah, he's been around since like in the UF seasons twenty eighteen, something like that, twenty fourteen man, like he's he's been around for a while.

So I think it would be more in play for that.

I just think that the recent slip ups, even though I think San Deni has kind of proven that he's back, especially that last fight where it was like, what was his sixteen seconds that he went through? Uh, Darius, Like, he's kind of proven to me that he's back and that those losses he suffered earlier were maybe more anomalies than you know, than we when we were saying at the time. I still think that that dude has a chance to be a champion in the division.

The Patty equation here is interesting to me because let's think about it, right, So let's say Ben was Saint Denie wins.

That's a great point too. Yes, yes, they could him well do that. That's the thing.

It's like Patty's thirty one something like that, thirty one, so he still got some time left. But I don't know what part of the problem for me in that fight with Geigee was like he showed him all he had and it was like, well, yeah, came up short anyway, Yeah that's not not enough, not enough to buy this ice cream today, you know what I mean? At the corner, t end So what do you do with him? Yeah? Do you do you give him the loser of the BMF match? Do you give him the loser of this match?

I think if pat like it's a great point with Patty pimblet Like, I think, if if Patty, if you can make Patty Pimblet against Hooker. I think you'd do it because one, I do think that the UFC likes Patty enough where they're like they would want to rebuild him. I don't think you'd want to throw them in there and just be like, here this is You're going to be an underdog in this fight, and this could be a you know, basically it for you in terms of contendership.

That's a good fight, and they have the bad Blood.

I just think that you got, like the way that Paramount plus, like you're saying about engineering, I feel like maybe that would make more sense for them, especially if they're I haven't really talked to this, but doesn't it seem like they're going for more of a cinematic feel anyway, Like the bad Blood may translate way different than Paramount plus era than it did for ESPN Plus because now you're talking about a streaming service that actually incorporates dramas

I would imagine they would want to get on board with that in terms of the upside here for me, let's talk about the fight itself. Can I just tell you one of the problems I have with it. It's that Hooker just went up against a kind of guy who's gonna try and wrestle and submit him. Which fine, Okay, I don't That's not a reason to not do it. I'm just saying it doesn't make it like a fresh challenge in that way. I know it's the first time

I interviewed.

I interviewed Hooker after that, and I was like, Bro, aren't you concerned about like the amount of damage? He's like no.

I was like, I'm.

Sorry, what? And his answer was well, because I distributed it head to toe, so I don't have to worry about too much concentration of damage in any one kind of place. And I'm like, I don't think that's how that works, bro, I don't.

That's not That sounds like all these philosophy on the ropes. You know, he's trying to like send us absorb the shots.

It's like, you're gonna get fucked up doing this. So I don't think that's the thing. So here he is returning relatively quickly against an opponent who has a pretty good chance of doing this same kind of thing. I like the matchmaking as such, like Dan Hooker versus BSD, but the particular realities that they're bringing at this moment I'm a little concerned for Dan Hooker, if I'm being honest.

Well, same here. I mean when they made the fight, and sometimes you just look at the momentum of fighters and again, but I did this with Dustin Pourrie back in the day when he was fighting Santai and I was thinking, dude, they're just kicking the ice flow, aren't They're putting them on it, and they're like, so long, doesn't It's been a good career and obviously he was

You know what's weird.

The craziest thing about him, though, is that he's he's kind of he'll surprise you a little bit sometimes, right Like I thought when Hooker fought Gamra that that was a for sure that was gonna be Gamrock's fight, and even though it's super close, Hooker pulls it out and then he kind of revives his career. I'm not saying like he's got like he's he's got like that spirit. He's got like enough skill where he can put it all together and do something. He can shock some people.

So I think this is just a bad setup for Hooker.

Man.

I think he's catching a guy at the exact wrong time.

I think you're probably right, and the winner of this, if it's BSD, he wins via stoppage for me, the winner against You'll put him in a BMF fight if you want. I mean, I don't know what the UFC has a vision for that or when that might be, but that's absolutely a fight you could do. And then you just send Hooker to fight Patty, and then you know that, really, do you like this BMF belt?

Now? Weren't you, like go one of the early guys whos like get rid of that shit?

Well, here's I mean, here's the thing. Here's why I feel like I'm at peace with the BMF belt, at least for right now. Number one, the person who wears it gets more money. Yeah, automatically. I like that true. Secondly, the belt will have as much legitimacy as the person who wears it and what they did to get it. It doesn't on its own carry, but it has some

Not at all? I just said the BMF belt is whack. What you can just put on fun fights.

I'm all for the fighters being paid more and stuff, so good for them that the belt is on the line and they get more.

I'm not like hating on that.

But what if they change the rules in BMF fights like ten minute first rounds and shit like that?

Probably, dude, stupid to me?

Why not make it's like boxing at this point, where were like Jake Paul that had a belt at one point that was like these super fight belt or some stupid shit like I just get rid of not here for it.

Sorry out he's he's a little racist against Hawaiian.

I don't.

Again, the belt doesn't serve a purpose other than for marketing material, but I do think that it carries a little bit more gravitask given who currently occupies the office.

The last couple especially too, I feel like if they didn't get those fights like that last one especially, I mean, if you don't get that fight, maybe it seems stupid, but that actually felt like something was on the line and that just happened to be the accessory.

Max won the belt with arguably the greatest knockout in US history. I agree, man, something to be said for that. Yeah. Now, another great fight on this card, if I do say so myself. Rafaelf is Eve although we had Jed Michue calling him Halfayel because he's a fucking idiot, but he is still not aged out from another title push. He is still kind of eligible. Here they are facing off.

God, I didn't really thought that's a great comparison though, Like you're right, because when people were hearing Hoofy, they were thinking, Okay, we could get a knockout of the year candidate. That's crazy expectations to bring into a fight. That seems kind of legit because I don't know if his I don't know if he was going to be sustainable to go in there and and do what he had been doing. But I feel like there was like

I'm looking at Phyzeve here for one thing, because it's kind of interesting. I'm looking at the UFC stats for Physive. PHYZIV got two takedowns on just engageing he got four takedowns on Bob Mundez, just given how bad who he was on the ground against Ben was Saint Denis. I think it's a real chance you might see if Zeve mix things up here, because Hoofi is probably still gonna be real fucking dangerous on the feet, at least in part. You would imagine if not in full and then on

But I will say that Physiv loves to play that game though a little bit like he does love to stand like he just likes to He likes to engauge man like.

He like he trusts his striking.

I'm like, does it get like it's always one of those things with a guy like that, you know, it's like, you know, you got to kind of convince him to do other things to be smart to win a fight.

He very well could be.

You know that three fights skid where he had the injury to uh, in the in the middle fight between the gaychee fights, like those type of things, you could look at them and be like, yeah, he could have

Man, I mean, you just can't. You can't. You can't.

Your default can't to be incautious, right, you can't default to incautious and expect that to survive.

Also, if excuse me, Hoofy, I feel like at twenty nine, I'm not saying a loss here is like totally great, but it's forgivable in part because if he's trying to make improvements, it's going to take some time. But with Phazi thirty two and ten months at the point of this fight will be nearly thirty three. I'm not saying that's over the hell either, but it's a little bit more like shit or get off the pot if a

How good is that that division? You remember the time we were like we're doing a pre game. It was at the studio with PC and we talked about, dude, look at all the guys coming up at lightweight.

It's like one of these remember this.

It was crazy and the fact that I know the physique was one of these guys that you're like, you're watching like, man, I mean, he's just a he's a monster, you know, Like and the fact that he hasn't got a title shot like these years later, it just tells you how just how crazy that division is.

Man.

And it was Gaechee obviously, like who kind of delivered that. It was like the old guard, But that division over the last few years has just been so good. And this this card is very like symbolic of that, because those two fights, even if you don't love that main event, if you're like, ah, the rematched, we just saw that fight. I mean those two lightweight fights, man, that you should tune in for those alone, right like that. It's just so good. Yes, I totally agree.

Which brings us, of course, to tie to Ivasa, who hasn't won since Abraham Lincoln was in office, and he's fighting Talis and t Shia this weekend. The odds, by the way, currently taytou Ivasa plus two seventy, Talis and Tashera at minus three forty. Just to remind everyone, if I haven't already understand the context which Taytuyvasa enters its contest, Chuck, here is the losing streak. He lost to Gyrzenio Rosenstrike

I think it has to be. And I know, man, they love him.

You know, he brings in the showy thing and like you go in Australia, it's just it's he's like one of those guys that you want to have on your card. He's part of the celebration. But he has just been He's been almost an anomaly. I I know that you like, this isn't a guy that you're going to like, you know, You're not gonna look at him and be like, oh my god, Like look at all these different technical things he's doing in a fight that makes him win. You're

But that is so insane. I mean, I don't even know what to say about this bout. It's like Tasa Tashira is tall and he's dangerous, but he's there to be hit, and Tay too, Vasa can hit. And it's like, if you can't beat an opponent like this, I don't know.

Yeah, there may not be guys on the roster that you could beat at this point.

Yeah, It's just I don't know if this is gonna work for you here, you know what I mean. I mean, again, to your point, they might keep him because Australia and all that kind of stuff.

But I mean, I mean, you're I'm right though, way right. There's not like you're not seeing things from fight to.

Oh yeah, no, I mean and again he didn't he didn't make as many boneheaded decisions in the Rosen Strike fight, but he was so boring that he let the fight get away from a you know, as worse. I know, it's definitely much worse. Let me pull up the stats on that one. If I can for just a second, please forgive me titovasa here. This is the rosen strike God, This of Jesus. He landed over the course of three rounds just thirty seven strong miles. That is anemic. He

That said, I was it a split decision.

I forgot like I think I've scrubbed it from memory, but that sounds because it was pure ass.

Judges drifted off.

But a fight is so bad and so boring and so boring it can honestly be like, Okay, who the fuck is winning this bullshit? Like it honestly is a little harder. It's harder to kind of keep up with it when like very little is happening that effectuates change.

This is We didn't get a chance to talk about zoof of boxing, but I was there, and I don't know if it's easier for you to judge boxing or MMA, but given the Zufo boxing, Like you're mentioning this and this is something I thought about, Like you got some you know, you got these judges. The room's completely dead, like everybody's drowsy in the room. There's no energy whatsoever. And the fights are all destined to go that whatever their you know, six rounds, ten six rounds, ten rounds

That must be tough.

Man. Yeah, I score. I feel like I score MMA better than I score boxing.

Yeah.

I think BC's probably a little bit the opposite obviously, which would make sense coming from boxing, But I don't know how It's like I saw with Dani's you know, oh, undefeated record in boxing now is going to mean something, and I'm like, all right, that might be true, but it's like, bro, they give these guys squash matches because the ship rules, you know what I mean, Like, that's how that's how you build a star. You got to give us.

Nobody's looking for parody on the early prelims. You know, you're looking for some knockouts to get rolling.

I just want this guy to get some work against some jobber who, you know, yeah, fucking does nothing in his life. I don't. I'm not. I don't. I don't need I don't need it to be like, oh this is.

Really that was a tough gig for those judges out in Vegas though, And I will say that that.

Was hard when they all go the distance on a boxing an hour and you're like, fuck me.

I sent you a picture from the room. Yeah, dude, that that looked lively compared to how it felt. I mean, it was just so bad in there.

It felt it felt really.

Just died, man, Like that main event where it should be like picking up and you know, like there should be some excitement.

Is it was so quiet that I, like I said this in a column.

I was like, it was so quiet that if you were an activist and you were like I, you know, you say no to the you know, Ollie Reform Act, you could have yelled that out and everybody would have heard it would have been like the biggest bang for your buck possible, right because everybody would have heard it on the telecast, and so it was just so dead in there. Man, it was I felt bad for the guys in the ring, you know, because you're like, how

Well, I didn't watch much Callum Walsh and I won't in the future.

He didn't blow you away.

No, let's talk about the last fight on this main card, which is kind of an interesting one, actually pretty interesting one. It came together last minute. But a guy I've got my eye on. I think a lot of people do. Quillan saw Killed got the weirdest name I've ever seen, taking on Jamie Malarkey, who is a good and decent Australian fighter. But Quillan sal Killed, coming off of maybe the knockout of the year, seems to have a little

I think so.

And like the I'm Long Island Luca to weighing on this too, but like, uh, you know, you get AUSSI versus Austin kind of unique, right like you We've talked about this a little bit, but it feels to me a little bit like a showcase for for Salk because you know, coming off of that, you know that that big knockout that he had, This feels like an encore performance.

That's how I see this one.

Long Island Luke as a resident phony Australian.

Why are you gonna call me phony. I'm a citizen, bro Chill. It's just more Australian than you're Indian. Geez, I don't claim to me. Yeah, you guys told me it was.

I wasn't claiming to.

Be born there you are? You know whatever?

All right, tell me about this Australian on Australian violence.

I mean Quillen seal kild, biggest favorite on the card. He's minus one thousand right now, not much value on him, but everyone thinks he's probably gonna knock out Jamie Malarkey.

Jamie Mlarky's been knocked out six times before.

And you can get Quillan salth killed by knockout at minus one forty five, which is a pretty damn good price considering his a minus one thousand favorite personally over one and a half rounds right now is plus money on DraftKings plus one thirty.

I'm taking that.

Both guys hit it in four of their last six fights, hoping because they're both Ausie, there's some camaraderie there they go a little longer.

You know.

Maybe there's too much hype around Quillan because he's got two nice ass knockouts, but he did go the distance with yanal ash moves so and you know, does anyone really remember that guy?

Now?

So there you go, Jamie Malarkey. I'm hoping that chin holds up, hoping it goes long, rooting.

For I hope it goes quickly because I'd like to go. I will say this for the first broadcast, and I know that Zach Candido tweeted like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was the first One's a little different, right, but dude, it was. It's like nine to thirty and they're on their like third sizzle reel and I'm like, guys.

Let's go to Brent Musberger. I don't need.

To hear from Travis motherfucking Barker on his zilgin drum sets forty minutes into the broadcast, Start the fights, please. So my understanding is we're not going to get that this time.

It wasn't Stem. Imagine if it was Stem performing, bring the.

Yeah, I wanted to Stem a fucking thing in my eyes what I wanted to do.

All right, let's go. Let's go now to topic number four, which is genuinely I was doing some research for this for topic number four, and I you know what, hold on before we do that. Before we do that, let me let me back up step. We will get topic four in just a second. But first, first, first, you guys know how the show goes. It is presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours, Chuck, do me a favor. I'm gonna pull this up here from our friends at sportsbook

Oh okay, it's the over under four and a half rounds.

It's a pick them right now minus one fifteen.

Minus one fifteen. Would you does that a bet? You take?

I like plus money only bets, so I wouldn't. Okay, there is good value there. The first fight did go five rounds. This one probably goes five rounds, so you know,

Kind of thing.

You gotta do the math. There's plenty of outcomes that could make that's there. Folk By decision is plus one fifty right now. I like that a lot too.

Also, I got to say, they've got Ben Wassing Denie Chuck, Yeah at that first of all plus one thirty five overall on his odds. But here this is the one that's more interesting to me. They've got the over under on this one for one and a half rounds. I like bsd's chances, And I'm not saying there's in a world he doesn't run them over. But what I am saying is there's also dude, Hooker could be tricky, Yeah, for is crafty. There's ways in which this one goes a little bit long.

Yeah, so you like the over on that possibly.

I mean as a as a bet Yeah, I mean straight up, you know, hard to say exactly what's gonna happen, but like trying to find value in the betting.

Like especially if it goes past the first Yeah, you like the over.

I think if it goes past the first, I mean it seems to me that, you know, Santinio always kind of that first round is the one you're like the most dangerous.

If it goes beyond that, things change a little bit.

How are you feeling about the Hoofy and PHYSI fight going the distance or not? Yes?

Me, Yeah, I don't think it does. I don't think it does. I think that, like the it's kind of one of those situations for me. And I know that if his if his eve has not been like finished like that, but if he goes in there and plays in cautious like we were talking about, I could see him getting slept. And there's another part of me that's like I easily really I think he's a very good stand up fighter, so I think he could catch Hoofy the other way.

So I don't know that what is the line on that? Is it? Is it set it one and a half or is it?

Yeah?

What it's on the on Whofi no hoofi and physive is two and a half two and a half, okay, because I was like, I like the under on that one. If it was one and a half, I'd be on the fence, but like two and a half, I kind of like the under there.

I like to perceive money line in that fight at plus one oh two, I think I think he's going to get the nod.

There's okay. I also have to say I like this. Honestly, I know no one believes in taichuy Vasa, but they've got him right now at plus money on the money line at plus two sixty.

It's not it has that shot.

Well, here's the thing. It's like, do I have a strong degree of belief in Tai tooo Usa?

No?

But do I have a strong degree of belief in talentsand to share? No? You know what I mean. So you know, so he's at mine, they've got to share a sitting at minus two twenty five, they've got Tai to vassa plus two sixty. I'm just saying, I'm just saying.

I don't mind that at all. I mean, Long Island. Look, that's value, right, That's what you'd call value yeah, but it's heavyweight ty.

You know, he did retire for a year and a half, hasn't won a fight in four years. I'd be very worried about that bet. But you know there's value sharing yet.

Listen. I'm not saying it's the most secure one. I'm saying the upside is real. How about that? The upside is The downsides are known, but the upside is real. And at any event, folks, if you want to go and do some betting with the DraftKings sports book, you can do that now, analyze, of course, and make your picks. You can do money line, you can do overrunners, you can do the whole things. Honestly, they'll pay attention to current odds or what we were talking about here. They

Oh my lord, man, this is like in that song the Devil went down Joey winning late, the Golden Fiddle down at Johnny's feet.

You know he knew, he knew lost or whatever. That's what this is like. Look at it.

Look at this demeanor in the second when he's like, fuck, I'm found out.

I haven't I haven't seen.

I mean doing this, And that was that was yeah, because he's like he's not moving either.

He's just kind of like sitting there.

His only flaw and nobody would have ever been on to him, as if he could have dialed that in better, right, Like he way overshot it at one two.

That's just such a red flag.

I mean he was also, let's put it in a context, he was like he came in ninety minutes into the festivities, right like, so it was like they had already he was the last guy on the scale. So I think there's already an added scrutiny to what's happening with you. You can't show up that late and then be that far underweight, you know.

Yeah, well he did it. He tried. You ain't cheating, You ain't trying. No, I don't know if it's gonna ge him.

So in the Paramount plus era, now we've had like one fight called off because of suspicious betting activity, and now we've had one fight called off because the dude was trying to cheat the scale. That's what I said about the drama on this Yeah, face planet after weigh that's right, Jesus, and the guy almost died, That's right. Yes, that was that was fun. That was a fun little time long Louke, come back in here, brother. I'm trying

I mean Junior Tafa never really you can never really trust him, I'll say that much.

You know he is, He's born in New Zealand, Australia.

I believe he has a gym in Brisbane, so you know you root for him in this fight, but I think Billy Elkhon is probably gonna get the dub there.

Cameron Roaston taking on Cody Brundage. Brundage is a pretty big underdog here. Roaston pretty aroused in pretty good.

He lost to Teres Finnie who's in the Fight Before Contender series, But yeah, he looks decent. CKB guy Cody Brundage, you know, is he really a UFC fighter?

He gon to beat up a lot.

We'll see this one dude, Torres Finny who just refuses to learn, apparently taking on Jacob Malcohn, who you know, it's like, what's his claim to fame? He trained with Robert Whitaker. I don't know what to say about this fight either.

Still trains, but yeah, this will be, uh, probably the most boring fight of the night. But I am intrigued by the odds because they're both grappling heavy guys, and Teres Finnie at plus one point thirty is intriguing, but naturally going to side with Jacob Malcohn here, all right, the one that's.

Most interesting to me, The one that's most interesting to me, Chuck in Long Island, is this one Jonathan I pronounced his last name mckayliff. I think, yeah, Mickaylyiff taking on Oban Elliot Oban Eli. It came a little bit of hype. Still has some but I think is in need of a win here and Mickayleff it looks halfway decent on tape. Actually, this one, to me is certainly the most competitive fight on the preliminary card. Would you agree?

Wow?

Yeah?

Pretty surprised at the odds too that Oban's the dog. I would have maybe flip flopped those odds. I did take an Oban spread bet in this. I don't know if he wins the fight out right, but I think he can steal a round or two here from Michaels or right and.

Last, but not least, anything else on these prelim cards that you give a damn about.

Well, the only other fight besides the road to UFC fights con Offley, who you know lost in the Tough finale what.

Two seasons ago, a season ago, taken on Yizza yz Ha. I don't know. It sounds like the Rizza, the Jizza, the Yizza, but I'm.

Gonna side with us everywhere.

Conn Offfley I was really down on in his first two UFC fights. He looked like shit.

He did Subcardohamos in his last fight, and I was pretty impressed by that.

So you know, maybe I think Yez has got a lot of hype.

He did get a quick ko his last time out, but he was on a two fight skid I believe before that, So naturally I'm going with.

The aus either.

All right, very good Chuck.

That was that was a smart way to like, I'm glad you didn't go to me for those fights, man, I mean you bring it or not.

I mean pays attention to that ship.

I mean, like I said, the absolutely no question about it.

But should be fun.

I think that like coming off a loss and like so many people, you talk to Europeans, you know, and they they still talk about him like he's he's got something, uh that we we haven't seen yet, So I guess I'm still intrigued to see how far he can take things, especially coming off the loss here.

Uh. And then last thing I'll say is I did hear that this guy and I did a little bit of tape watching on Kachi Knuckamore from the featherweight final. He looks to be the goods. He actually pretty interesting, but we're still I think he's what seven and one or something like that, to double check, but we're so early into his UFC run though I don't I don't know exactly what even this is supposed to mean. You know, it's an important fight, it's a good fight.

But overall the prelims from the first one at Paramount plus Era were much better than this one, is what.

We're saying, ragnificantly. So yeah, right, with that in mind, we'll put a pin in this. We'll come back to the boxing later. Long, aw, we got time to do a little over under or rate that card.

Yes, sir, let's do it all right's that card?

Guys?

You know we did it last week. We're doing it again this week. I'll explain it after the intro card.

It sucks.

I did say rate, but it is rank. I apologize.

You know, I keep saying rate myself, but because you're ranking Ian, it's obviously it should be rank.

But rate does roll off the tongue better.

I don't know.

Anyways, I'm gonna pitch these twe of you out of time. You're just gonna give me most likely to least likely based on the question. You can both chime in, but I will pitch it back and forth. So lt who's the New Zealand born fighter with the best chance to win on Saturday?

Aaron Tao is obviously out of this because his fighter is off. So Junior Tafa or Dan Hooker.

I'll say Junior Tafa.

Wow, Okay, I mean I think Dan Hooker is a much better fighter, but he's also got much tougher competent so anah, yeah, probably Tafa. Alright, I feel like Hooker's uphill battle man. That's a tough one, all right, Chuck.

Uh, Which undefeated fighter in the UFC has the biggest chance of losing on Saturday?

Oh boy? Cameron, Rouston, Quillin Skill.

Look at these names. These sound like names from the Key and Peel sketch, Jamius Rex.

Torus Finney. All right, and then what so rank them one, two three? So Therez is number one?

Uh, and then maybe and then maybe Ralston and then I can't imagine that Quillan's gonna like ship the sheets in this one.

I mean he's like, he's this is set up for him to succeed here, true, LT, you you agree.

Or its exact same?

Yeah? I mean that is based on the odds, so that makes more sense. LT.

Who's the most likely to win by finish? Talas in too shera Ben was Saint Deny or Quillin sal killed.

In this in the.

Definitely definitely talis In first, Okay, yeah, and then I'll yes in order, so I've got Talisan BSD, then Saw killed.

Okay, Chuck, I'd go Talison, then Saw killed and the NBA.

Ye all right, Uh Chuck, Which underdog has the best chance of winning on Saturday?

Tie to Avasa, Dan Hooker or Diego Lopez?

Ah Man, I hate to contradict, Like when we talk abou Volcanosa, I still will say Diego has a good chance, though, like I think if he makes those adjustments or if he comes in a little smarter, I'll go Diego top and then and then ty Tabas and then uh Hooker.

Okay, let's see, I'm gonna go Lopez even though he's got the toughest assignment. I'll go tie and then I'll go Dan. And again I think Dan's better than Tye obviously, but I think he to the point Chuck made just the timing of this fight, I just don't love it for him.

I might flip flap tie in Hooker.

I'm kind of I love Tye, but I'm very no, you don't know, you don't ill are you betting on him?

You're like, yo that I'll do a shoey. I'll do a shoey on stream if TI wins calling it right now? All right, wow, all right.

Now we're talking uh ELTI most entertaining fighter on the card, Ben was Sintony Ti Tasa or Mauricio Hoofy.

Well, up to this point, the answer has been Hoofy. But I don't know what we're gonna get from him on Saturday. So I'm gonna say BSD one, Hoofy two, tie three hm hm.

That is the only I would just flip flop.

I guess I'd go I'm just gonna believe in the excitement factor on Hoofy, so I'll go him then BSD then tye.

Okay tie to me, I was factoring in again the shoeies, the ada after that last fight. Man, true, I don't know.

I need to see something here, Dude, remember that movie that Remember that event. It was like in ACB, like one of one of these Russian events where like the owner came out in the middle of the fight, was like, Yo, just stop the ship. That's how I felt in the middle of that fight. Just fucking leave.

That's hilarious.

Chuck, who's the most likely to avoid a second straight loss, Cody Brundage, Junior Tafa or Dan Hooker.

Man all right, I'll go Hooker, Tafa, Brundage, Okay.

LT, I'll go Tafa, Tafa, Hooker, Brandage.

I might go Brundage number one. I'm just like Camra, You're just questioning if belongs in the UFC.

I know, but I haven't seen enough out of cam Rouston yet where we are really gonna doubt.

I don't know.

There's just there's too much intrigue there. Whereas Billy Alacana, I feel like it's gonna be tough BSD. We obviously know where the odds are at there.

LT.

Who will have more UFC fights after Saturday? Alexander Volkanowski, Dan Hooker or Tyko of Us.

Wow, that's a toughie. Hooker is gonna go until they make him stop. So definitely he's the answer. And Vulcan at least might have a couple more, especially if he wins Tie. I think this might be do or die, So I'm gonna go Hooker, Vulk Tie Chuck.

That's exactly right, and Vulcan especially like we didn't talk about this. Luke but like the psychology. Remember he's talking about like being psychology affected during idle times. I just I can't imagine he's gonna walk away easily from the game. So but Hooker be there, like you mentioned, until they until they force him out.

All right, fair enough, Chuck fighter, who's stock will drop the most with a loss?

On Saturday Mauricio Rufi, Oban Elliott, or Quillin sal killed with a loss.

I'd definitely say Hoofy because I feel like people are high up on him uh doing something, So I'd go Hoofy, then sell killed, just given where they're at and coming off that knockout, and then then Oban.

Lt Umm drop the most.

Hoofy uh saw killed Elliott because Elliott's already lost.

You know, I feel like Saul killed has to be number one because he's a minus one thousand favorite.

He's fighting a chinney boy, you know.

Yeah, how about a relative to two losses in a row?

Yeah, but Hoofy is losing to top fifteen guys. These aren't like bad losses, you know.

I don't know this is is going to have that he I think, right, I don't know if is malarchy, like even a big fan favorite like, I feel like the crowd's gonna want to see Sulkil do something here.

Yeah, I'm I'm I gotta think no, Well, because Quillen's from Perth and Jamie is either from Victoria or New South Wales, so Jamie might actually have the hometown support.

All right.

I'm curious LT fighter with the best tattoos, So I have pictures for each of you here. So picture number one is Dan Hooker's tattoo, Picture number two is Benoi Saint Deini's tattoo.

Is that Joan of Arc maybe?

And picture number three is Aaron Taw's tattoo. So I want you to rank them. That's too worst.

Hookers are the technically the most clean, okay, and so for that reason, I like the most I'm gonna give. I'm gonna have an order here because taos are cultural tattoos. Yeah, Like, obviously those are not for mask consumption. Those are for cultural tattoos. But I think those are actually the best tattoos to get, to be perfectly honest with you, I mean, again, it's not for me, but I understand it would be for them. So it might look a little weird to

Wow, Chuck, Well, I was gonna say TAO three, But I mean now that you've now that you've kind of talked about it, I'm like, well, yeah, you know, if you're going to get a tattoo, like, you want it to be meaningful, right like, so I think i'd go the same order.

I think, I like, I don't know their tattoos.

The other tattoos are strictly decorative, yeah, whereas the cultural tattoos some cultural decoration to it, obviously, but it carries significantly more meanings.

So it's like, so one though, huh shouldn't that be one?

Then?

Uh No, because I still don't love the necessity like the application of it. I just want pure tattoo applying terms you.

Know, all right? Fair enough?

Uh, last one, Chuck, the Australian with the best chance of being a UFC champion, Jonathan mckayliff, Dom mar Fan who's fighting in the road to UFC final are Quillin Sal killed?

Oh Man?

Well Sal killed out? Oh wait, sorry, I meant to preface. All three of them are twenty six or under.

That's why.

Oh wow, okay, all right, I'll say soul killed. I mean, and then is it Mika Lef? How do we say his last name?

I'm going mckayliff, okay, and then mar Fin that's yeah.

I haven't seen it, to be completely honest, I haven't seen a ton from you know, mar Fan said, so I feel like I'm kind of guessing on that one.

That's fair lt you got any different or you're going the same, Probably the same.

Right quill in one? And then after that it's who gives a shit?

All right? Fair enough? That was card guys.

Hope you enjoyed it, all right, very good, Thank you very much. All right, Chuck, we got to see you off. I know you're doing another broadcast later today, right, tell.

The fun I'm jumping on the crack with Pizza Carol at the top of the hour. So, uh yeah, but you're gonna be back with us on Monday.

Correct, I'll be back on Monday.

We'll break down all the action that happened at UFC through twenty five and the boxing events.

I'm sure, man, So it should be a fun one. It should be a fun one. Indeed, there's Chuck's socials. You can catch them on X, and you can catch them on IG and you can catch them on the crack. Craik craik, craik crack. I don't know how to say it. We say, you know, yeah, the crack a little bit later today. Thank you, Iceman. I appreciate it.

Thanks man. See you guys.

All right there he goes with that. Being with that in mind, let's bring up our next guest. Gentlemen, do y'all remember the guy who asked Dana White about uh the Ali Act and t KO and Dana told him to schedule an interview later and then it never actually happened, but everyone was like, yeah, there's a great question. Well, it turns out that my man, who is part of is a boxing scribe and this is part of the Porterway Podcast. His name is Sean Zateel and he now

Thanks for having me brother.

What do you have there in the background? My my glasses aren't good enough. What's the what's the what's the video game machine? Back there?

The NFL Blitz.

I have actually have a authentic with a CRT screen NFL Blitz ninety nine upstairs.

And this is the like the replica the Arcade.

One up So yeah, we got to get you some mats underneath the weight bench so you can learn how to like, you know, because you got to drop the weights. You're not dropping them on fucking hardwood.

No, no, I do.

I got one.

I got one.

It's just it's it's not visible. But wait there it is.

Okay, okay, okay, you're very good. Y well, Shawn, thank you so much for joining us. I greatly appreciate it.

Let's talk.

There's a huge slate of weekend boxing that we're not gonna have to get too too much into the weeds, but we want to at least keep our audience informed of some of the major parts of what is happening, and to me, that conversation starts with the ring card that's taking place. The official name of it is is the Ring four. This is Tao Femal Lopez fighting Shaquor Stevenson as a sold out event in Madison Square Garden. Six fights on this main card. Let's start with the

Yeah, yeah, to a degree for sure.

I think it's control, chaos and improvisation and being dynamic and creative on Tiafimo Lopez when he's.

At his best.

My guy Chris al Jerry with a boxing scene, former world champion, says once to catches a rhythm, he gets into like a flow state and again becomes very creative with his offense, with his defense. He fights a lot off of his talent, his athleticism, and not not just that alone, but Shaquor is definitely the superior technician.

I think the to get right into the fight. I think the best case.

Scenario for tia Fimo, who you know was born in Brooklyn, New York, but really cut his teeth as an amateur in South Florida, if he's going to win this fight, it's gonna be it's gonna be Roy Jones against Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones versus James Tony, though much more competitive, I think if he can win this fight in that manner because James Tony, I'm sure a lot of people listening do know how to lose like sixty pounds in sixty days and was pretty drained for that Roy Jones fight.

Along with being the more superior by.

The book technician and the more precise puncher, the more accurate guy.

When it comes to placing his shots.

He's very sharp and the name of the game is to hit and not get hit, and that's why Schakor is the favorite.

He's a little bit more accurate than Tiafimo is with his placement.

His shots go from point A to point B in a straighter line up the middle, and when he does throw combinations, he's good at pinpointing each shot to the body or using two decoy shots to set up a right hook. Sometimes very accurate with both hands, good, very accurate to the body. But Tiafimo is the more gifted athlete between the two of them. And to kind of Chris al Jerry's saying he gets into a flow state, I'd say it's.

Kind of like a streaky shooter. If he can catch a rhythm and get on fire in this fight, he can win this fight.

And I do think it's interesting his his mind games yesterday at the press conference, and the course says he's not biting on them, but we'll have to see on fight night. I think in Tio's best interest Luke because he's a guy who fights with his lead hand down and when he's stalked. You know, guys that are good boxers like Jermaine Ortiz or Sandor Martin. Sandor Martin. Sandor Martin put him down with a right hook over the

He's gonna have to impose himself at times.

If he's gonna pull this off as an underdog and and he's the bigger puncher, he'll have to impose himself in spots. But I think if he just stalks Shakur all night, that won't work the way it did against uh Lomachenko, who was a smaller guy and older guy compared to Chakor Stevenson. So yeah, I think I think that. And to wrap this up, that's what I think was interesting. He got him to, in a way take a step forward.

But we'll have to see tomorrow night. What goes down.

Is it.

Who has the better pro wins? And what I mean by that is, you know, listen, I saw the Del Santos fight. I saw this Apeeda fight. Those are good wins in the sense of you beat a quality guy in either case, But remember the Dela Santos fight, his hometown crowd walked out, and when this Peeda fight was over, you were just kind of like, I don't know, it wasn't.

I think overall, definitely Tiafimo has the better wins, the better resume, and has fought as a professional the better competition. But what offsets some of that is with the higher level of competition, not only has he lost, he's had a couple of fights that a lot of boxing. People think he may have lost as well, and Jermaine Ortiz and Sandor Martin, whereas Shakur overall hasn't fought the level

How I answered that one you mentioned the antics. I want to play a clip here. Schakour thinks Tayo Femo is doing all of this because he's actually nervous. So he's play this clip and I want you to react to it.

I think he's nervous and he's given off energy as if he's trying to delude his brain into believing things that are basically not going to happen. I just don't understand how he can delude his brain into believing that when he didn't make Steve Claggett that's his name, Steve Claggant quit. He didn't make him quick, he didn't make George Campbose's, he did not make lemon Chenko quick. So what in the world makes him think that he's gonna make me quit?

What do you think, Sean?

I think at first, I think I didn't like tia Fimo's energy heading into this fight, and I and Shakoor very focused, very on point something he learned from a guy like Terrence Crawford.

His eyes are on the prize and he's completely locked in.

But then it felt like once the fight really got here and the fight really starts at the press conference, into the way and into fight night, that tia Fimo showed up, the real tia Fimo showed up, and I didn't get a sense from tia Fimo that he was rattled.

I actually think he was being calculated. Maybe he perceived some of what I perceive.

How can I make this guy to get out of his game plan a little bit, who's always so technical and sharp?

How can I make him make it more of a fight. How can I make him take that.

Step forward Saturday night as opposed to where he could take a step back and counter as good as he can with his step back game. So I didn't see too particularly rattled, I know, and actually, interestingly enough, Wally Moses, Chakor's trainer, who's an excellent trainer and helped build him from scratch, along with his cousin Zequin Moses, who's a

Now we'll see again if those antics don't live up to the level of focus.

And drive of Shakor, who is supremely confident, who, unlike Tiafimo, doesn't know how to lose.

But to go back to that Del.

Santo's fight, and you mentioned Zapeta too, What is interesting is the one time Chakourt fought someone who could really match him in terms of speed and timing and quickness was Del Santos, and he beat him off the jab.

But his offense took a big hindrance.

In that fight.

He wasn't working his body shots, he wasn't working his combinations, his right hook, his straight left hand was sparse, and he really just won that fight off of one hand. Now he says his other hand was hurt for that fight, and that's part of why he only beat Del Santos with a jab. But the point is, and against Jeremiah Nakatia too, a tall fighter from Africa who had some power on his right hand. Those two fighters, and in

But these guys got big questions to answer.

Will Shaquor against the best fighter he's ever fought, will he be a little bit more timid against the speed and the power the way he was against del Lo Santos can Tiafimo be a guy who's excellent with the step back game, who could fight off the back foot.

As a great boxer.

When he's been up against that look against other fighters, he hasn't looked as sharp as when he can play the counterpuncher. So that's why I say again he might be looking to find a way to make shakor come forward a little bit more than he wants to so he can do what he does best, and that is be the lead hand, low quicker fighter, the athletic fighter, the counterpuncher at times and not always.

Have to go after this guy.

Let's talk about this co main event honestly, Like I'm not going to say it's more interesting than the main event,

Yeah, you raised a lot of fair points, man, and he's giving a new young team a chance at it, which part of me likes because a lot of times in the NFL the NBA it's about like who could get the new sexy offensive coordinator or the new young coach, whereas in boxing you pretty much retread the same names over and over again. Bow Mack, Freddie Roach a few years ago. He's gotten up there in age more so, and Robert Garcia.

And so on, and so forth. But yeah, man, he winds up having an ugly fallen out with bow Mack.

He blows the weight by almost an entire other weight class against De los Santos, a fighter he hand picked for top rank.

He is still with top rank.

Top rank is leasing fighters out right now the Turkey Ala Chica Riad season. They can't compete with a Saudi you know, government and public investment fund. And I made a point on Twitter that got a lot of people upset where I said, you know, this tia Femo Shkort fight is really built up by top ranked. Tia Femo and Shakor were built up on ESPN primetime slots where they got a million plus viewers a few times in

He was doing the belt to ass and I get it.

His point was, you know, this guy shitted on me all the time about beating me in the amateurs now that we're professionals, but you know you didn't beat him, Kishan Raymon Murrataya beat him. And I used to ask Kishan that, like, don't you isn't there a part of you that wants to write that wrong for the amateurs and fight him in the pros And you know he would say yeah, someday, but now it looks like that fight will never happen. Eddie Hearn's talking about moving Andy

To the winner of this fight.

He's already ruled out Tiafimo because he says tia Fimo's terrified of him. He'll never fight Schakor Stevenson because how close they are if Shakor wins. The only guy who said he'll fight is Dalton Smith, who's the newest champion, because he says Dalton Smith can sell out Arenas.

Back in the United Kingdom.

He wants to go to one forty seven and fight Devin Haney, who is a three division champion with more than double the amount of professional.

Fights he has.

So what I'm getting at, and he's promised the knockout of Jamaine Ortiz, who has fast hands, fast feat is a very solid contender in his physical prime, arguably the most athletic fighter Kishan's fought to date. Who is a who has more professional experience than Kishan. He's fought Lomachenko and Tiafimo to very difficult fights, and on his part, he's got to let his nuts hang all the way to the ground this time. You know, Luke, every guy steps through the octagon and steps in the ring, lets

He frustrated him, He made him look bad.

He made the fight very close and even controversial to some people, but he didn't put his foot on the gas to actually walk away with the win. So this fight from Jermaine Ortiz, win or lose, I want to see him not leave anything on the table, if it.

Even go out on the shield if he has to.

And for Keishawn Davis, he's talked a lot of shit and he's got to back it up Saturday night. He's promising a knockout, not just to win. I think he will win the fight Luke, because he's got a little bit more sophistication to his arsenal to his skills than Jamaine Ortiz, who again has quick hands, quick feet.

Keishawan's the better puncher.

I'm interested to see how Keishaan deals with Jamaine Ortiz's very quick feet because Kei Shan keeps a wide base and he's actually a little bit flat footed. But he's the better body puncher. He's more physical on the inside and at long range. He has a hell of a right hand uh, and he's the better puncher between the two of them. But this is his first fight in a new way class offense against a legit guy. But he looked a lot bigger at the Way or at

Also on this card, Carlos Adamis will be putting up his WBC middleweight title against.

He got sick today, Oh Jesus Damas.

Yeah, all right, well shoo shoe. Carrington's on this card still against Carlos Castro and then Darrell Miller. Funny story, dude, I cover Darrell Miller's fights in Glory sometimes in Europe. To see him out here after all of that. I know he's had peed failures left and right, stole a car allegedly one time. I mean he's had a run. He's still on this card. I don't know what you could say about his career, but he's still present. I'll put it that way. He's still around.

Yeah, I mean I thought he beat Andy Ruiz in La back at that Ria season off card.

I thought he beat him. He that's a that's a guy who's been pretty shameless since popping for a couple of steroids when he lost that Anthony Joshua fight. But he's a very for being such a big guy carrying so much weight. He's got some crazy volume.

He did you know he did.

He never really been down. I mean Daniel Dubois man now off the top of the head.

I can't remember if he got stopped right at the bell or if du Bois had him out on his feet at the bell at the in the final round. And Dubois a big puncher, big baby Miller is a good shit talker. He throws a hell of a lot of punches. He's got really good punch resistance. You know, I don't know if he'll ever hold a heavyweight title in this uh, in the heavyweight division, but yeah, man, he talks a lot of shit and except for Daniel Debois, he tends to back it up. So we'll see what

Uh, he's come close. He a lot of people thought he beat Stephen Fulton and.

Dropped him in their fight during the Canelo Berlanga undercard, so you know he he keeps it long and Bruce Carrington is a fighter who's a hell of a counterpuncher. Not always the best defense, fast hands, but sometimes as.

A great counterpuncher.

He waits to counter a little bit too much, and he can't do that against Carlos Castro, who's tall, rangey, got good feet. He's gonna have to use some of the parts of his arsenal he's neglected in some fights recently, mainly his jab, some of his feints he's gonna have to initiate and punctuate. If he just wastes to punctuate, just wastes to counter, this fight could get away from him.

But I expect him to win win a world title on this card as well.

I don't know if this is breaking news or not, but ZUFA Boxing's main event for ZUFA Boxing three is Faa Jaga versus Charles Martin. Is that news?

So?

Yeah?

I actually heard about that from my guys in the Sport a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah.

On Valentine's Day, FAA Jagua and Charles Martin.

That's their first let me let me tee you up because they've got They've got Ryo fighting this weekend, and but also Top Rank has got this card in Puerto Rico trying to feature Xander Zias. How do you feel about what ZUFA is doing just on the boxing side, Just forget about the the contracts and all we you not.

I think their first show was.

Kind of underwhelming given the bravado they're coming into the sport with now.

Definitely you could argue it's more sustainable.

They're coming in not blowing a lot of money on the talent right away and on the card. Whereas PDC when they had their first card, it was Keith Thurman versus Robert Guerrero, it was two legit guys at the top level.

It was a bigger fight. It was a bigger card, but.

That's harder to sustain, as we found out over the last ten years. And then for Dezone, their first Foray was supposed to be Demitrius Andred against Billy Joe Saunders. Billy Joe popped for something and it wound up being Demitrius Andrade against Walter Colton, Dakua and Eddie Hearn wound up losing a bunch of money for de Zone on

Who's a good young prospect at twenty years old.

The matchmaking was solid, and the Julian Rodriguez Kane Sanderbal fight was solid too. It had a lot of action, but a lot of people are using the world's word sterile to describe the vibe in there in that APEX METAPEX, whatever the fuck Pex it is Mark Ruderberg complex now and they're the The commentary kind of devolved, like at first, you know, Max Kellerman and andre Ward are dropping jewels X Kellerman is talking about how it takes a talented fighter to throw his lead right hand at a certain

It's kind of felt soulless and dystopian.

It felt like this is just another chip towards you know, world domination for TKO and Ari Emmanuel and the people running that ship. But the car did produce some good matchmaking and a lot of action. But as a first impression, I think it was underwhelming, giving given how much bravado they're coming into the game with.

But it wasn't all bad.

At the same time, what's left of top ranking Golden Boy.

Yeah, they're in trouble Man, Golden Boy is going to Swerve TV, which is a local Los Angeles channel. Oscar de la Joya his clapbacks. He makes good points, but it's not coming from a very strong messenger.

Right now.

His building in La just got foreclosed, his original Golden Boy offices.

He's in a lawsuit with his best fighter, Virgil Ortiz.

His other best fighter and biggest attraction, Ryan Garcia, by all accounts, will be leaving him. Oscar may have some options on him for two fights thereafter, but he'll still be able to leave for after this Mario Barrios fight. He wound up folding to Turkey Ala Chic and giving him Barrios and Garcia as opposed to keeping it at Amazon Prime fight with PBC. And what's odd about that is he in the lawsuit with Ortiz. He reportedly turned down a two year extension with his own But then it's.

Like, can't be lukewarm here. Then you got to try to make something happen on Prime potentially then another distributor.

He still thinks he can get something done with this, which he may have to to keep Virgil Ortiz because Ortiz has a clause in his contract that if Oscar doesn't have a deal done with a network, specifically his own, then he's he has a clause to get out of that contract. And then his third best fighter, Gilberto Zerto Ramirez. I don't think he beats David Benavitez a single demayo weekend.

So you know, I got love for Oscar. He's one of the great fighters I grew up with.

I think he makes fair points against ZUFA, but it's not looking good for him and Golden Boy. And then with top rank they still have a war chest of talent. They got a lot of the talent on this Saturday's car Tia Fima, Lopez, Bruce Carrington and Keyshawn Davis are all top.

Ranked talents, but they don't have a network.

I think this fight with Xanderzeos, which is a unification, a hell of a fight with Abos Barral, That's gonna be a hell of a fight, but it's in Xanderzeos. If he wins, becomes the youngest unified champion in the sport.

But it's on Roku TV. I believe an app you gotta download.

They got some stuff showing on two and I think a big problem for Todd Prank isn't completely just the network situation where they ended on a whimper with ESPN. They had some strong outings on there, Haini Lomachenko, Lomachenko against Tiafimo Lopez.

They co promoted Fury and Wilder.

That was great for the sport and they produced three great fights, two of which had to do with ESPN.

But but I think the big problem for them is who's the successor for Bob Aram.

The jury is out big time on Todd to Buff who's been underneath kind of like an underboss to Bob and it does a lot of the decision making.

But the jury's out big time if.

Todd to Buff is the kind of successor to Bob Aram, if he could take them forward for the next sixty years like Aaron has for the last sixty years.

I think if Aaron was twenty thirty years younger, they'd be in better shape.

To withstand the storm of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and eventually offer a lucrative alternative to what ZUFA has going on.

But top ranks in big trouble.

Bob Aram's ninety four years old and they don't have a network, but they do still have a lot of talent.

There's a lot else going on this boxing weekend. Bertazalie of his back. There's a whole bunch of things, but we gotta get it going. Sean, how can folks get more of your work? And what's your coverage plan for the weekend?

Man, I'll be doing a live round by round watch party tomorrow night for the Bakra Murdazalia fight overseas against Josh Kelly. That's a good scrap. And then the whole ring card ring six tia Fimo and Shakor. I'll be live for that as well. Me and my guy Radio Raheem. We're gonna drop our instant reactions to that. We're gonna drop a reaction after the weigh in kind of give our final analysis on tia Fimo and Shakor.

We'll have analysis right after the fight. I'll be live during the fight.

And yeah, man, and I'm always in the gyms here in Las Vegas getting quotes from champions and guys coming up. And Man, if you go to my channel, Shawanza tell I got I got a ton of interviews despite not being in New York City for this card. The access isn't too great these days anyways, when you cover fights, Luke, So.

If you can tell me about it, Yeah right.

If you can get around the local gyms and talk to fighters there, you might wind up with more interviews than you would sometimes flying out to a New York City. So I appreciate the time, man, shout out to you, Luke. We had Lawrence Taylor, we had Ladany and Tomlinson, and now we got Luke Thomas.

Yeah, I'll take it.

I also do coke and hang out with hookers. So me and the original lt Or we were killing it. We're killing it, Sean. Thank you so much. Man. We'll look forward to your Coveragejoe weekend. We'll get you back on again soon. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Brother. There he goes the great shawns to Tel. Can't recommend him enough. I got to figure out what's going on with my focus here on this here screen. All right, let's remind everyone one more time. First of all, my coverage plan for the weekend. I'll be watching I'm not gonna watch the whole car but I'm gonna watch the main event from my watch along I think on Saturday, and then I'll do the post fight through twenty five

I can't put myself on screen in this layoff, but either way, I gotta watch along. Saturday, I'll be doing the full card five pm Eastern, and I got ult back on prop Quiz against Jed Mishu, airing in twenty five minutes.

No spoilers, don't make it reaction LT, just sign us off, please and thank you. Let's go every So there you have it.

You can go check out main card minute for everyone on this show, for Chuck, for Shawn Ztel and Long Island Luke as well as the staff and everybody else. I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you guys so much for watching. We'll catch you on Monday back with the Iceman himself, and until then, may all of your gains be loyal