Revee revee dalks. We'll do the snow tip to tip. This is all life, this is our passion.
I'm look Thomas, I'm this this Morning Combat.
We gotta get Chuck his own intro. What's going on? Everyone? Welcome, Welcome. Fights are back. They are back.
They are finally back in our life, and we are here to preview them and talk about so much more. Welcome to Morning Combat on this nineteenth day of January twenty twenty six. My name is Thomas. I am merely one half of your hosting duo, joined by my friend and yours.
Again. I just can't get rid of these Connecticut bubba's. But here he is.
It's Chuckman. What's up, Iceman? How are you just true? I guess yeah, You're last guy was Connecticut too. I guess that's where all the talents is for this chair, right.
That's where all the available talent is. I suppose.
I'm not sure how to say it. I'm ready for round two, man. You know that's when I come to life. This is our second show, and this is usually when I start to show up.
You know that.
Yeah, of course all feel out round like Bud Crawford. Yes, congratulations to your Broncos and also sorry about your Broncos.
Isn't that fun? But I was happy.
I was happy to see the Bills lose because, uh, well, their fan base is intolerable, let's just be honest.
About I've found that to be the case.
But I do know, I feel like I know more Buffalo Bills fans than just about any other like type of fan, right Like, there's I feel like they're everywhere. So some of those people I like, and so there's it's kind of always bittersweet when they when they get ousted like that.
The reason why you know so many Bills fans in real life is because you see their mugshots on the news, and they're also close talkers in person.
They are close talkers. You knew the people I know here in town. You know exactly that that's true.
Hey, Josh Allen's the best quarterback in the league. Really, why does he keep going home sad flexibly with cheese on your face afterward? Yeah, all right, we have a lot to get to today, Chuck. So we're gonna talk about UFC three twenty four, which is finally here. We'll have a bit of a boxing roundup closer to the end of the show, there's been an update on referees understanding the problems with ipokes. John Annik has talked about how he would change the UFC product and so much more.
Do us a favor if you can give this episode a thumbs up. If you're watching right now on YouTube, you can follow us. There are our socials as well for Chuck, for me for the show. If you're listening on the audio platform, give us a nice review and it certainly always goes far when you do. And let's not forget Morningcombat Dot Shop. We have our current merch that's up there. Remember the poster is just twenty five
dollars for this month. They're a little bit banged up in transit, but of course you can get the Stranger Danger shirts. This design courtesy of Average Joe Art. Now, Chuck, what do you have going on for planned coverage? I know you're going to Vegas this week, yes, And I know you're going.
To the zoofa boxing event. Are you going to through twenty four as well? I'm not so.
I'll do a column coming out of UFC three twenty four, but we felt like to be at the event. You're like, well, what could really be different that they're going to be doing, maybe like some minor things, but really what you want to see is what it looks like on the presentation on television, right, Like you want to be able to watch and see what that is. So I'm going to fly back on the day of and be back in
time to watch and do that part of it. But yes, I'll be out there for the ZUFA Boxing event, which it just feels huge as we get to fight week at this point.
Doesn't it like it feels like a big one to me? Does it?
No?
No, it's like it's Callum Walsh in a warehouse. I'm like, I don't I don't quite get that, but I mean I guess I sort of. We talked about it last week. I guess I sort of get that. I will say this, how does it work for Uncrowned? Do you guys have someone that goes to all the events?
Like? How do you all apportion that?
No?
I think that at some point we realized that the kind of coverage that most of the sites are doing, you know, just the way that they set up media week, now that the fight week it's not real conducive. Just you don't really need to be there for it. So I think we have a couple of events that will always have somebody on the ground, but for the most part they focus their travel budget on other things, you know, like visiting fighters elsewhere.
The fight weeks themselves don't seem worth it.
I'll say this, and I know we're going to talk about it here in a minute. That nine pm main card Storeeah, I just can't say. People have been like, what do you want out of the UFC on Paramount Era. I'm like, don't change anything, nine pm, start on the name card, no pay per view, just just just do that.
Just do that and I'll be I'll be quite happy. I'd be dying.
A lot of those times when you got when you limp into ten o'clock and they're just doing the promos, you know, they're just doing the intro for the show, the cold open and all that, and you're like, oh my god, man, we still got like two and a half three hours of this, and then you go you do a post like show right too, so like knowing that you're like, man, we're not even halfway home yet, We've got a long way to go, and it's you're already dying.
You know.
I mean again, this is part of the reason why the show. I mean, we'll be back in studio soon, I'm sure. But like part of the reason why we're doing this here on Monday remotely is because you know, the the just the toll it took where again it
was more accumulative over many, many years. But then you're ba I don't basically basically on the nights where I do a postfight show, I don't go to bed until roughly four am, because after the show is over, there's a bunch of stuff on the back end you have to do to get ready for the next day's amount of work. So all that's done and then you go to bed, and then I would have to get back
up at four am the following day to come up here. Yeah, and I'm it's like, dude, when you're twenty seven, Yeah, it's like, all right, you know, you're a little tired. Well you're forty seven, which I'm not quite yet, but like still, it's just a completely different ballgame. You know that one hour really does make it difference. It's critical, really critical, all right, Before we get going here, last thing, let's bring in the third member of our show yet
another white guy here to give his opinions. It's Long Island Luke, the son of a as Brian Campbell would say many times, horned up Australia.
And it's his birthday today.
Actually it's the horn the birthday.
Shout out to him. Going to impregnate for his birthday.
Hopefully No, And I mean, you know, long long over those days. Also, me and my girlfriend seven year anniversary today. Wow, congrats she walking around going pretty much. Yeah, yeah, one of those there's a you know, empty spot there she's waiting for.
Yeah, yeah, but she's listening in the other room too.
How many live streams are you going to do? From me? Are you gonna do the ZUFA boxing live stream? No, I'm not going to do ZUPA Boxing.
I might not even watch it to be honest, you know, probably try and do something else Friday, but I may watch it, but definitely doing full card Saturday. We back at it first one of the year. It's been like five weeks off because I did Jake Paul. But yeah, looking forward to it too.
Yeah. Last thing on this appreciate you long. Last thing on this is Chuck before we get going.
I did that. I did the Jake Paul fight on that from him.
It was a Friday night for Anthony Joshua and then he never went to bed and then just went to the airport and did a two legged international travel with child. God that was that was such a stupid idea.
I don't think I could do that. I don't even think I have a I don't. I don't think I'm capable of doing that anymore. You know, we used to do shit like that all the time. I just I can't do that.
Yeah, I can't either, even though I did, and I could do it again, but probably only at gunpoint, you know what I mean, Like it would be one of those situations.
It's an exotic life you lead there, Well, it's a it's an exhausting one.
How about that?
All right, without further ado, let's get this party started here Topic number one. What else would we talk about? The fights are back, Ladies and gentlemen, They are back. UFC three twenty four is this weekend, and of course it's a numbered event. We can't say pay per view anymore, as well as the first one of the UFC Paramount Era. A lot of high expectations. As we indicated, we already know this. It's going to be a nine pm main card start. It's been traditionally ten per and of course
it's not going to be pay per view anymore. There still is the paywall to get through with you have to have be a subscriber to Paramount Plus, but not that additional layer to keep you out. So chuck as the UFC takes on, it's made in voyage here in the Paramount era, the first This will be the first as Mediicatu sort of like top tier UFC event. They're bringing on, CBS is bringing on Kate Scott as part
of the broadcast. Does the UFC need to do even more than what we've already talked about to make this first event special and meet fan demand or have they already kind of set themselves up nicely to deliver what I think the fans are hoping for.
Yeah, it's a tough one. I was thinking about this.
You know when they first introduced the Fox era, remember they had that bonus card. They're like, hey, we're gonna do a kickoff party before we even get this card going with the cane Velasquez Junior de Santos and they had I remember how strange it felt maybe maybe you remember this too, seeing like Kurt Minafee, for instance, like hosting that and it felt like our small, weird sport. Now is Kurt Minafie like sitting here talking about it? And they had if I recall it was like John Jones.
They had a couple of people in the in the studio and it felt very like there was a ceremony to this whole thing, And I'm interested, I guess to see if there's anything like that. I couldn't remember other than the strangeness of the ESPN opening, if you recall, because of the Greg Greg Hardy was on the ConA main event, they had Rachel odjivish Ostovich who was down on the lower like on that same main card, And it felt very like tone deaf for the UFC to go into the ESPN era with that that kind of
dynamic in place. But in terms of like will they do something that distinguishes it, and I don't necessarily think they have to, Like I feel like some of the promo packages and the things that they're going to run on Paramount Plus already contain a little bit of a different, I don't know, a different feel. Maybe maybe you feel differently about it, but like they they seem more cinematic.
It seems to fit the themes of what they're normally streaming, and they're kind of like splicing in the UFC, So they're existing, you know, whatever they've got going on. I just it'll be interesting to see kind of what they come up with. But you know, I don't, to be fully honest, man, because I haven't seen them. Maybe it's because of Dana's kind of enthusiasm factor, like not being where it was, like, I don't really anticipate any big changes, do you.
Okay, well, I mean they've already done the big ones already, right the paper view has beenicated in the Star Times. What are they calling this, by the way, so like I was thinking about that when you put me we keep mentioning it as like a premier event.
Or what do we call numbered events? Okay, that's what we're calling it, right, numbered events? All right.
I think that they do have to do a little bit extra, so again bringing on the pay per view, getting rid of that we're doing the earlier Star Time, they're bringing on Kate Scott. I think if they add a few more bells and whistles on the production side, maybe they hold their cards close to their vest and then give an announcement about some impending fight. Maybe they announced, for example, I think the fans would probably be hyped if they did.
I'm just making something up.
Hey, we're gonna already tell you what the main event is for UFC White House, or you know, some kind of indication about here's what we got going on, here's what we got cooking. It looks shiny, it looks new, got that new car smell, kind of getting into it, and they're off to the races. But I think actually be a mistake to try and do too much. I mean, here's the reality. Every time the UFC signs one of
these deals. So when they go from Spike to Fox, Fox to ESPN and now ESPN to CBS or Paramount, one of the biggest things that I've seen is that the in house teams at these places are not usually fully ready to deliver the UFC product as it's supposed to be delivered, which is understandable. This is not a criticism,
it's just a reflection of reality. You have these in house teams that again they might do NFL, they might do whatever, and they're all very talented but MMA is like any other sport, is its own kind of beast. You have to have institutional knowledge to make this work, and they don't think they have really built that out yet. I mean, again, they've this is the first ufcvent on Paramount.
They haven't really announced like all the different Paramount shoulder programming that's going to be a part of it, because.
I don't think they've even come up with it yet.
I don't even think they haven't even announced any hirings exactly for who they're gonna keep and who they're gonna add, and what shows are going to be there. None of this has been settled, and so I think trying to do too much in this moment would actually be a bit of a problem. But at the same time, are fans expecting, you know, a little bit of a red bull pep introduce them to the whole thing. I think as long as you deliver that, you'll be fine. Yeah, I really do believe that.
Well.
I mean I feel like they have they traditionally. I feel like they think some of this through and I would maybe something like what you mentioned, like obviously, if they if they mentioned the White House thing, can you imagine the buzz because first of all, that when that's sort of like, okay, now we're definitely pinning the state we know for sure that this is going to happen, because I feel like still it lives in this abstract like we're trying to do this. We'll see, but they're
promising it. But I feel like that that would actually say like this is happening. That would be a major buzz. In the old days, man, when they were like kind of you know, doing these cards, one of the big moments within the pay per views was they would announce fights. Do you remember this? And we would go, everybody be on Twitter. This is in the earlier days of Twitter,
and everybody be talking about that. It was like this added buzz that you could add to your event and now suddenly you're very excited not just about what's about to happen, but what's down the road. So maybe they would use something like that. I think it would be advantageous for them to do that.
Yeah, there's no question.
Now let's talk about some of the fights on this card if we can. Obviously, the main event, the UFC Interim Lightweight title is up for grabs when Justin Gagee takes on Patty Pimler. We're gonna look at it from from both sides of the equation here. The first one would be a very basic one, and I want to play a video before we get your answer.
Shock.
It would be about justin Gaegee's legacy, because I think we're gonna have to start figuring this out. And here's why he told Aaron Bron's that or if he gets KOed, he's finished.
You've always given me a number of how many wars you have left in you? Do you still what is that number? Today?
One more knockout? I went to sleep. That was before that, I'd never been.
Put to sleep.
If I would go to put to sleep again, I would definitely call quits.
Really, so you're drawing the line that's.
Been my line. Yeah, it never happened. So I wasn't like, if I get knocked out, I'm quitting. But once I got knocked out, you know, thirty seven years old. If I was twenty twenty seven, thirty, this would be a different story. But this is not the beginning. This is definitely the end of my career and it's been such an amazing thing. You know, obviously they'll they'll use and abuse you in this sport, and you have to protect yourself,
you know. And I altually have created a team, and I got my family and my coaches, and they all have my best interest in at hand. And I've always told him that I'm in it till they say I don't have it no more, and or whenever I feel like my younger self, the the hunger of my younger self can beat the skills that I've that I have now, then it would be done.
Now. One more of this.
I think we have a graphic from Trevor Whitman. Here's what he said, which is not quite the same thing as Justin quote. This is our last run. If we don't win this fight, we're not going on. We're not going to go out there and be a gatekeeper and look at money fights. He knows he's got to be there for his family and take care of his health. Chuck, It's interesting, right because he's already been an interim champion, and I guess there is something to be said for
being a two time interim champion. But how would you assess Justin Gacy's legacy if this ends up being his last fight? Well, I guess it wouldn't be if he won. So if let's start with if he loses, what's on.
The line here for Justin and what a swing this would be because obviously if you win, now you're the champion and you have fights lined up, right, So it's like,
this feels very kind of a start. I don't know if you ever talked to Justin way back in the day, but he was one of those guys who was a bit of a red flag human being because the way he fought was unsustainable, because he was this berserker coming in from w soof and it just felt like, I don't think that you can maintain this for any amount of time, Like you're eventually this is going to catch up to you. And he would talk about it, He's like, you know, man, I know my styles reckless. I know
that I could have CTE. He would talk about this stuff and you'd be like, man, I've just never heard anybody who's not worried about their future. The biggest juxtaposition at the end of his career, first of all, is that he sustained it and he went this far and like you mentioned, became an interim champion and fought for the you know, fought for the actual title and has basically fought top five for the last I don't know how many years is that he's still you know, he's
still there, and how now he's thinking more clearly. It's very weird because he's sort of like, you know what if I lose this one, I'm out. And that's a very clear minded way to be. He has won a ton. I mean, in MA speak, when you win bonus money like he has, this becomes like a major deal of how you you know, supplemented your income. He's done a
lot of that. And I think that when you mentioned his legacy, it's going to be like I was trying to think of the the actual like he may be one of a kind in the sense of the types of competition that he fought in and the magnitude of
event that he fought in. He was always a guy that you could plug in to a major event, not necessarily like a Donald Cerroni where you could just plug him into a main card and he's like anywhere anytime, but more of a guy who was who would deliver on a promise of a card that maybe was lacking and he would bring something to that table that would that would fill it in for everybody, and everybody'd be happy with it because it was justin Gaigee and he brought out the best of the other guy and they
went to war. He's a berserker man, and he's I think that that's going to be who is when I think back on Gaigee. Let's presume he doesn't win this fight, Like when I look back at his career, it's going to be a guy who brought that mentality, which I
think is almost the quintessential you know mentality. The UFC always used to preach and their prep fights are the before the fights where they would say, like, hey, guys, leave it all out there, you know, do not leave in the hands of the judges, and all this sort of thing. This was justin Getchee. He was kind of a godsend in the UFC, stood in a lot of big moments and still was very, very successful in terms of the types of competition he fought because he fought
the who's who man. So I think, I just think I'm always gonna think of a wild man. What about you when you think about him?
I I firstly consider him part of a generation of lightweights that I don't know we'll ever get again, when you talk about him, Chandler, Eddie Alvarez, when you talk about Justin Parier, when you talk about you know, obviously Connor part of that as well, and Habib and there
was that. I mean Connor and Habiber were a little bit different because they obviously ascended to greater heights, but there was like this, and Eddie was a champion too, but there was like a generation of lightweights who were just fucking war horses, and he was part of that. He made a very very very special era of lightweight. You can patrols Olifer in that as well. Who's getting kind of at There's just been a really, really, really
special run. And if you look at the current crop of lightweights, I think they're very good, and certainly the guys at the top like sar Yuki and Tuporia, I think are really really good and I'm glad that they're there, but I don't think there's quite as much of the same thing. They're not easily going to be replaced. I think he's part of that. But to your point, he
was a guy from World Tears of Fighting. There was a they never called remember James Vitt called him the Homer Simpson of MMS, where he was just oh, you just get hit a bunch, and then he flattened him and went out and he actually, I think over it, justin Gatchee has massively overachieved relative to his style. His style, he should have been finished in the sport a while ago, but because he is a special kind of fighter, he's
transcended that. The interesting part about me for this spout is if he wins the interim belt, is a two time interim champion equivalent to a champion. I don't think that it is, but it's not nothing. But if he loses, I don't think it actually ruins his legacy either. It just kind of seals what we understand him in place. It freezes him, so to speak, in the Star Wars universe carbonite, and there's really nothing else there to advance.
The only way any of this really changes how we understand him long term is if he goes out there, beats Patty and then does something special in the fight thereafter. Otherwise, again, it's not to say he's not done an amazing things, but this fight doesn't.
It's weird. It's it's critical to change, but by itself doesn't.
Do much I think, no, you're right, man, And like the fact that he, like you were mentioning that, like when he came over, you're talking about the lightweight field when he came over. How exciting was that the idea that you're now putting this guy who was the champion over there who fought you remember the leg kicks and everything like with the U and Luis Palomino and the guys, like he was blowing up over there, and you're like, you're putting this guy now into the fold of all
these guys who are already here. It did make for a crazy era. But more to your point, man, like I hadn't thought of this until we were kind of like putting together the show and you'd mentioned this, But like it is a huge hinge moment because if he wins a title, I do feel like, you know, he wins an actual title, and you know, we see how everything plays out this year, it does change things for him
because you know how it is. It's like Justin Poier is one of those guys who kept changing, you know, changing the perception of him as time went on and became like a more beloved figure even if you didn't
win everything, like he became like this beloved figure. I think that you would have to look at like Justin Gaege and be like man the BMF title, you know, just standing in there, even though he didn't win that exchange, it became he became like the you know, posterized by by Holloway and that in that crazy ass exchange one
of the craziest things we've seen in the sport. But to just come back from that and win a title, I do think that that, you know, that would be something that we would look at and I think you would have to consider with Justin Gatchie forever after that man, because that kind of perseverance is also very unique to a guy like him.
This is interesting to think about which is on the other side of the equation with Pad Pimblet. Clearly the UFC has big expectations for him, not merely to help mature and nurture the UK market, but just as a guy that the fans whether they like them or they hate him, and most people seem to like him, but he can be a lightning rod in a variety of ways that there's just a lot of buzz around him.
So what happens like do you think the UFC would be better if Justin Geechee won in the sense that A, it doesn't add much to his legacy to be a two time interim champion, and b now you've ruined the party on the other side, I guess it kind of tells you what they expect to happen.
I don't think they think that Gatege's gonna win.
They don't book. You know, if it was about Justin gate Like, let's put it this way, it would be Patty versus arm On, Right, if they weren't worried about Patty, if they weren't trying get him, they would be like, well, you just put this guy who deserves it. Justin's pushed out the equation you have these two guys go at it.
The reason Justin's in there, I think is because the new era they want to associate with a guy who is a firebrand who comes in and, you know, like Paddy Pimblet and realizes, you know, he wins a title and he's able to kind of set up whatever next in that division, which could be a couple of different scenarios. So's it'd be in a very healthy position. And I think Patty is a guy that would draw casual interest back into the sport right away and all that stuff.
So you're right, this is one of those situations where Justin Gaegie gets the like he gets the chance to kind of blow up the plans here and this is I don't know how you feel about this fight, but the end there's no animosity. It's almost like everything's off center. When they look at each other, they just have admiration. They've said some things, but it's like it's mostly like I like this guy. He just it's necessary. You've all
just got to go beat him. Meanwhile, you know, like Dan Hooker and Patty Pimblet are like, you know, bad blood brewing like back and forth, and you got Armann out there, which Patty has commented on and Justin has looked at him as well. It's a very strange setup. It just it feels like in that sense that you're right, the gayche's being placed in there basically to get Patty over in the wrestling term, right, like to get him
over and be like here we go. Now we enter this era and we've seen this before man, where whatever that plan is doesn't work, and it would be very interesting if it doesn't. I suppose the worst case scenario, right, is that you have Justin Gaichee who's never done the UFC wrong, and that's in delivering fight. So if he's your champion, you'll be fine. But that's not the way they're designing it.
Here.
The DraftKings odds have Geichee at plus one ninety Pimblet at minus two thirty. Of course, all of those are subject to change, they can change between now and then, but they kind of indicate, I think, pretty correctly what the odds should be that Pimblet deserves to be the favorite, but it's not so. I mean, so it's strong, but it's not so overwhelming that you could not imagine a case for Geige to win. Let's talk about Patty for
just a second here now. In his case, I will tell you I did not see him even becoming an interim champion, and his improvement to me has been real. He's filled out dramatically in this weight class. That's another thing I didn't see coming.
Well. He was at one forty five.
Someone once asked me, like, you'll this was back when this was back when to PORI was at forty five, and even before he was championed, like long before that, and they were like, you know, oh, what happens if Taporia fights Patty?
I'm like, you might kill him. It's a mismatch. You know, you can't even do something like that.
But to his credit, I remember, yes, Yeah, to his credit, he has actually improved significantly. And now I still think I would picked Pory to beat him ten times out of ten, but his ascendancy. This was a guy you know people also talking about like favoritism in the fight game and like did he have some coming from Cage Warriors? Sure, but it all kind of worked. Like favoritism in the fight game can backfire, but when it works, you have
to acknowledge it as well. Clearly the UFC favors him, and an interim title Chuck as minimal as we might count it as an award, I think in his case would actually be something of a freaking achievement. It's the same thing that Gaichie had and that had. It puts him in some pretty interesting company.
It really does. And to your point, man, it's it would be fairly remarkable to look back on because I think with Pa pimblet it he felt more like a novelty that the UFC brought in than he did a legitimate contender, and they even in the in the early fights against Vargus and some of those guys that he was standing in against, they weren't easy for him. You know, he looked like he kind of he would get clipped too easily. Like it just looked like he was he
would get himself into trouble. And I just remember back in those like in that time, you're you're thinking like, well, we'll see how long this goes. But it felt very much like a novelty, like you're just watching this guy who has this, uh, you know, this fan base he
brings over, and we'll see how long that goes. For him to end up in this position and to actually win a title would be fairly remarkable because this is a guy who has had to deal with larger amounts of scrutiny I guess you know what I mean, Like he's been forced to have to deliver in situations because he's you know, he's he talks a big game and when you get in there, if he doesn't deliver, it's
going to look very poorly on him. He's been able to do that, and honestly, man, like, yeah, you got Tony Ferguson, who's long and tooth kind of way past his.
Prime, and you get a guy like Michael Chandler.
This to me, even though Geychee's pretty old, but this to me is like, if you're able to get through Justin Geechee, and I don't think you're seeing a hugely diminished Justin Geigee, if you're able to do that to him, I think that that is one of the stories that we have to look at in our sport and be like, wow, man, this dude really capitalized in a way that I never
saw coming. I personally didn't see it coming. And I remember talking to people who'd watched him in England beforehand and just kind of the way he took losses, the way he was almost suicidal at certain points, and they would wonder about his mentality if he was even cut for the fight game in a long term situation. So you get into this situation now, man, it's a fairly remarkable I know he's kind of almost downplaying it, you know what I mean, But this is a big deal for him.
Why do you think he's done playing it? I don't know, man.
I saw an interview and it just seemed like he was like, you know, maybe he's he has almost like soporific delivery. Sometimes he doesn't really feel like he's you know, fully awake sometimes, but he was. He was just kind of saying like it'd be great to be the champion, but it was almost like it was not the the
end all for him and all that stuff. But I just to me, it feels like though he's not really seeing it, Like I'm just pointing out, it's not like he sees it as this escalation in this moment to kind of like put a bow on something that you know, he came from a from these very hard beginnings and here he is. I just I didn't get that sense from him. Maybe that all changes with the emotions on fight night, but he's he's just kind of downplayed it, you know, I don't I don't know why, to be honest.
You know what's interesting is I think he almost sees it as automatic. Let's play this video here. Patty thinks that it's actually fate that he's gonna end up unifying the title opposite Eliotaporia side It's fate.
Oh man. It was meant so often because a lot was just over non for now, we just dislike each other known to man, and I'll just bet a fight.
I think he's a billion fire, He's a lot.
Up until Armon Forts, I was thinking arm was the tougher fight, and then when I face off, they've seen so many holes in his game, so they leaves the toughest fight out there. People think Islam's plan for pound number one. He's number two, and I want to beat some mother. I want to be on that planful pound list. I want to show everyone why we have weight divisions and that he's just too small to beat me. And as I say, on a professional level, I'm I think
he's a very good fighter. He's cause champion for I'll be an even better one.
You have to love the moxy. You have to love just a breezy kind of confidence that this is all set up. I mean maybe you feel that way when you're fighting nothing but dudes in their late thirties and early forties.
Well that is true, man. I mean like he is getting the platter of the you mentioned. You mentioned you know, the lightweight the lightweight division being a golden era through the through all those fights, he's kind of, you know, getting the leftovers of that of that division at this.
Point people, people, which is true, like you have like, this is one of those things where like you see you'll see this all the time if you watch fights long enough, where like again, this was a similar kind of criticism that was levied against John Jones. Here he comes and he's beating Rampage and Showgun and Macheetah and Bait or two. But that was obviously before the title run itself, and everyone's like, oh, he's just beating all
the old guys. I'm like, that's the job. That's the job of someone who is taking out a division and is instituting generational change. Now I'm not saying that's what Patty is going to do, because we're talking about John at the title level doing that.
Yeah, less so at the pre title level, but you know that's the job.
At the same time, though, Chuck, the other thing that's what I have you come back to is like, Okay, it's great to beat all the unks, but it's not the same as beating.
The Armins and the ilias. You know what I mean.
Well, And it's also that like at some point in time, you've seen Gaechee fight everybody, right, Like you've kind of seeing him fight and everybody, like you said, it's the job to go in there, but it's also the game itself. The game itself is saying like the young guy has to come up and get rid of these old guys, and we do it again. It reimagines everything. We have fresh matchups all over the place, and uh, you know, the excitement level or I guess the imagination of the
fight game has a whole different meaning. If Patty is holding that belt, even even for a little while, like you're gonna have he mentions it, they have a they have an ongoing you know thing that at some point maybe they can do something about it.
It's just you get a lot of he's able.
He's been very good at just kind of setting the table for his run, which maybe it is fate, maybe he's maybe that's how he views it, but he's done a very good job and it just opens up the imagination. Whereas a gay chee, you know, at some point you're like, well, what who else do we want to see him fight? We've kind of seen him fight the gamut and all these new guys that are coming up doesn't excite you as much.
And the truth is last thing on us.
We'll talk about the comin event, which is you need people to do what Patty has the opportunity to do.
It's not at I mean, okay, it's.
Technically at the title level because it's an interim one, but for the sake of argument, it's not the real title level.
Obviously.
You need young guys to beat up the old guys, and you need them to replace to be replaced, like you. That's good for a division when that happens, and not for nothing, Chuck, he's not an American. The UFC could use some stars obviously in UK as well. We don't know what the hell's gonna happen with Tom aspinall, and you know, Leon's on his way out like Patty, would be revitalizing both for the UFC brand. We're broadly in that market. Now, let's talk about that co made event.
With the time we have remni here for this topic. It was supposed to be Kayla Harrison and Amanda Dunaz. That's gonna be postponed for you know, however, many months. We'll see how that goes. So they moved up Sean O'Malley versus song Ya Doong, Chuck True or false. I mean, what a what a turn of events for Sean O'Malley who gets wasted by Mirob dawallash wee Lea twice in basically ten months or something like that, and you think it's completely out of the title picture. Then he loses
to Yawan, who Showan O'Malley technically beat. He's facing song you dong if he wins. I'm talking about Sean O'Malley. It's a guaranteed title shot, is it not?
No, it definitely is. It definitely is.
It's actually and it's crazy how this works because you got you have a guy. I think when O'Malley lost the second time to Morob, you're basically like, what happens now?
This is a guy who he's not playing at the top of a head.
If there's a possibility of a title does he just go to a different weight class. He's kind of cut out that way, like as a competitor and like as a as a personality, uh not to just hang around. But yet the guy that he gets stuck behind Morob, you know, tries to make history and loses this fight and all it does is exonerate you know, like O'Malley and puts him into this new space where it's like,
hey man, I've got the inside track. They would completely give O'Malley the title if he's able to go in there and do work, especially in the first card of the year like this. In a comin event, they're definitely going to put him against Uh yawn because that fight. The first fight was very close. You I don't know if you remember like watching it in real time, but it was. It was very close in the sense that there was a lot of volume from O'Malley and but he kind.
Of outstruck him.
But the efficiency went to Yan and Yon like put him on his back like a bunch of times. He had like almost six minutes. He had six takedowns for almost six minutes of control time. Could you could have easily given that fight the other way? And I think a lot of people thought Yon wonted so like you have a controversy to actually it feels unresolved. There's no way in hell the USC would missed that opportunity to pu him against Peter Yaan Again.
What happens if he loses.
Now, this is obviously the biggest win of Song ya Dong's career, but would it be fair to say that if O'Malley loses to someone like this, and I know he lost a chooto verra on his run up, but that was semi injury related and obviously he avenged that lost pretty convincingly, so he's not really lost to a guy of this level. Does it move Sean O'Malley to forty five?
I think so in the sense that what we were just talking about, he strikes me as a guy who if he if he doesn't have if he can't be at the top of the game, right, if he can't be near the top or threatening for the top, I don't know.
I don't know if he just wants to play.
In the kind of more like middle the middle ground with the other guys like he's he sees himself, even though he downplays it a little bit like, I think he sees himself as that guy. So I think one forty five fresh matchups that would probably be the way to go.
I know he's not super eager.
To do that, but if he wants to remain kind of vital, and also maybe where maybe that's the track, maybe that's where you follow the money a little bit too.
I think that that would be the move.
I just can't imagine him just wanting to work his way back from uh, you know, from I guess a three fight losing streak at that point, right, yeah, I mean.
Also like not for nothing.
But you know, people are constantly complaining like, oh, so and so is an industry plant or they're getting unfair you know, a boost, and it's like, dude, I mean, on the one hand, yes, he has the win over Yon, which makes this you know, it would make a potentially revenge fight, certainly a rematch, and that has a certain
kind of appeal. But at the same time we talked about it, Chuck like UFC is going to be trying to find any American they can't to push to the front of the line to help revitalize I think this market to a degree, like Sean O'Malley is just sitting in a really great opportunity. Songa Dong is no joke, but it's such a fortuitous position. On the other side, beast or excuse me, I'm god, I gotta get.
Used to it.
The other side, shock, I apologize, Yeah, I know, I got a drink. On the other side of it, songa dongdud, This would be far and away his biggest win. Here's a guy who's been kind of maturing, kind of maturing, getting better, but I don't think he in my mind, he doesn't have a real signature win. He's got good wins, but the Sahuda win doesn't count.
Do you share that assessment, Yes, one hundred percent.
I think that that's his big moment of rival, right, like his big moment where you're like, Okay, that dude is for real or whatever. It's definitely this is exactly the kind of name he needs. It's kind of a I feel like it's one of those situations like we've seen them many many times in this game where a guy is kind of cast in a position where you know, if he wins, which is the whole objective, you kinda you might piss people off ultimately, right because people are like, oh,
we wanted to see the O'Malley thing. They're not really contemplating you. They're kind of looking past you towards other things. And that's where he's That's where he's at. Man, he's being cast into this position. He's very he's still a young guy. He's had some great fights. He doesn't have that signature win and he goes in there and does business.
You can't worry about all that perception. You just got to go get your you know, secure your own bag, get that title shot for yourself, and let the chips hoover in. They may, but I know in the short term that would be a bit of a buzzkill for a lot of people for the very reason that you're mentioning, which is just trying to get especially with this White House card looming, some American you know, some American title holders again are getting guys back into that space.
UFC would probably love nothing more. And as a matter of fact, we have clip here. O'Malley wants to fight on at the White House.
Let's see it.
Meevers Peter at the White House just makes sense. I don't know what else they what else?
What else?
What's a bigger fight than that? If we're going off just pure big fights. If you're going off you know what makes the absolute most sense, which is not always what the USC goes off of. I think Morob deserves a title shot, but if you're going off of, what the fuck is the biggest fight? You know, Mever's Peter rematch at the White House seems like the biggest.
Fight and we need someone to represent you were saying that White House because what I seen.
I mean, I would like to say that I disagree in purposes of meritocracy for Morob.
I don't think that I do. I don't think that I do. No, I don't think so.
Also, the first fight was under dispute about who actually was exactly.
That's the biggest, you know, thing in his back pocket is just there are a lot of people who thought, oh, Maley lost that fight and he ends up getting his hand raised. So now you have a rematch to kind of resolve that whole issue. And dude, after Yawn did work to Morob at the end of the year and put on his master class performance, that's a huge fight for him too. So I just can't imagine that they would rush Morob back into that space when you have that kind of fight sitting there ready made.
You know what I mean.
There's a million other things we could pick from, but in the interest of time, I'm just gonna go.
To punt to you here.
Any other storyline that you kind of have your eye on that stands out well.
I mean, this kid, twenty three year old at TIBA got man, Like, that's a guy you have you been watching him?
Man?
I mean like from the middleweight division. He's completely freaking yoked. He goes in there and it's like every punch looks like it's just going to just drop the curtain on whoever he's aiming at. And literally that has been the case so far. He's got a fight coming up. I know that they have he's got to fight on this card. They have him again at something like a minus one thousand favorite to go in there and.
Just smash a guy.
So it's like, it's these things are always a lot of fun because you're still in the showcase mode. But dude, like, pay attention to this guy. I think that the thing I realized I was I was. I haven't been to a lot of ufcs over the last couple of years, but I was at a last one at UFC three twenty, and it's just like every time he throws, there's something in that building. This is fun when you get a guy like this, Like every time he throws, you're like,
oh shit, here we go. You know it just everything is so has such bad intention. So I'm looking forward. I'm hoping that he's able to kind of keep building because that division could definitely use a monster coming up.
I love that.
I can't wait to see how he looks. Also, I'm gonna just throw in here. Rosanama unis now Listen. She currently sits at thirty three years of age. That's not old, but she's been and she does have a ton of fights, just twenty professional fights. That's not nothing, but that's not a huge amount necessarily. But she's been fighting kind of for a long amount of time, Chuck. She's gone through a lot of ups and downs and journeys and titles and big wins and big losses. She is coming off
a win over Miranda Maverick, which is nice. But if she loses to Natalia Silva, I just don't know what this does to her title opportunity. She still will have a big name. I'm not saying that she would be rendered ineligible, but she's been up and down. She beats he Boss, she beats Cortes, that's great, but then loses to Blanchefield bounds against Maverick. You know, but to keep some kind of winning streak alive, to get back to an opportunity, which not for nothing. This division feels wide open.
It might be a strong word, but still available for the taking. I suppose in some ways, No, that's not quite not right either, But I don't think a title's out of reach, I guess is the way that I would put that, given how things can change at the top, and so a win here is not like, oh, it's win or go home, but it's not far from that. It feels like this needs to be something she can put together convincingly.
And it's also weird because I think that she's one of those fighters who you're like, in a condensed version, you look at her career and you're like, she did so much.
She did so much.
We first saw her coming at twenty two years old, you know, coming off the ultimate fighter fighting Carla Sparza, losing her first thing, getting compared to you know, the next Ronda Rousey, all that stuff, so big time kind
of expectations probably unfair placed on her. Overcome all that have a career where she you know, wins titles twice, beat some of the best, I mean the very best women in the strawweight division with Zangueli and also Yoanna a couple of times, just fights that you will always think back on it, like, oh, my god.
I remember when that happened.
It was already to the point where it's like, well, the title doesn't even mean that. She was almost talking about it, like who cares about the title anymore? Like I've kind of done everything. This is her years ago. So now in the weight class that she's in, I think that the hunger to kind of hold the belt again is still there, even though she you know, I don't think that she necessarily went there specifically to win it again. I think she just wanted to do the
new weight class. But she's she's right there, man, and I feel like that's actually like a huge legacy defining thing if you're able to go up weight class kind of persevere with the loss you mentioned, like to Blanchefield, and like, you know, put yourself in a position where you win another one. The Rosana Mayuna story is a wild one in the end, so I you know her her path is right there. I agree with you, though, if she loses, it's one of the situations You're like,
I don't know where that leaves rosanama unis. I don't know if she I don't even think I don't even think she has interest in going back down I've never heard her really talking about maybe you've heard mention of this, but like, obviously she could if she wanted to, because she owns you know, she's beat that. I guess what, I presume will be the champion again at some point in the Jiangulie a couple of times, so like she could maybe still do something like that.
But ultimately, it.
Feels like for' thirty three years old, it feels like she's been in this game forever. And I'm not sure how much she would want to do any of that stuff.
And I again, I don't I don't discount her skill, and I don't think she's over the hill. But Natalia Silva, I'm just gonna say this probably has a much greater degree of hunger, oh yeah, at this point than Rose does. And that doesn't mean again, that doesn't mean she's better, but that could make the difference. And who gets their hand raised if we can. We got to move this along.
Here, Chuck. It's got a topic number two two, which.
Is I gotta say I saw this news and I was elated. How about this for a UFC announcement, The UFC announced Featherweight's Josh Emmett and the Argentine Kevin I'm trying to how did BC pronounce it? Kevin hos uh like the most gringo pronunciation ever, Kevin uh Fahe host will headline and it really was pronounced. So I'll explain it just a second. All right, Well, headline an APEX event in March. Now, obviously the UFC believes in the Argentine here are pretty big. They're pairing him with an
aging slugger. Is the answer to this pairing as simple as it puts him in the top ten? Or do you read a little bit more into why they put these two together?
No, not really because and also the other side of the equation, Josh Emmett like forty years old, right, like what do you what are you supposed to do for with him? It's kind of like what we were talking about before. You've kind of seen Josh emmittt again. You kind of know at this point what a ceiling is obviously, like it's forty years old. He's not going to do
crazy things. So you put him against the guy like a younger, way younger generationally younger guy who's coming up, you know, smoking everybody, and it's kind of making his move and you take whatever juice is left of Josh Emmitt's name. And I mean it's still a fun fight because Josh hits so hard and always his game to go in there and mix it up. It makes for
a fun fight. But I do think that it's another one of those situations where and I'm maybe I'm reading way into this with the paramount plus thing, but like on a card where you're kind of introducing a new era and you're kind of pushing these new uh you're kind of pushing guys like you know, you're trying to push guys over who maybe we weren't paying close attention
to before. That makes sense to me that you'd want a guy like Kevin, you know what I mean, right into that top ten because he's the one who's going to bring excitement.
He had that fight. Was it chicase that it was his last fight? Yeah?
And I mean it was fair to me. I was like, all right, you know, I'm convinced that this guy is now going to do exactly what it looks like they're trying to get him to do, which is kind of busting the top ten to be a problem. And uh, I kind of like it because I think that you're still saying to Josh Emmett like, hey, we're gonna give you a dude who you're not supposed to beat, right, And sometimes that can speak to like a competitor's like non, I watch you know.
That's that sort of thing.
And from his motivational standpoint, you're like, well, I want to I want to prevent this guy from taking my spot. But we know how the US, we know what the UFC is thinking when they booked this fight.
I don't think there's any question, by the way, on the pronunciation. And again, okay, I don't know if I don't know if I told you this. I'm now taking Spanish classes, are you really Yeah, Like I'm an adult learner showing up and being like, oh, lay, I'm a room you know, may gusta taco bell and all this bullshit or whatever. You know, Like I have to do a bunch of that and it's very embarrassing because I'm not very good at it. But the pronunciation here, I've
had this conversation a million times with other folks. Uh, there's just a million different regional accents in in Spanish, and because he's Argentine, they do two l's next to each other, like the letter like the sounds like that's how they do it.
So like, for example, the word street.
In Spanish is spelled c A l E, and they would pronounce that kashe.
That's how they say it's so it's vachet Hosts. That's how they do it.
But I mean you might hear his name like in Mexico, they would not pronounce it that way.
I would pronounce it by yea.
Anyway, dude, I love this fight for any number of reasons, not least of which is they're both sluggers, as you indicated.
The other part, too, is not for nothing.
If you look at the numbers on for shet Hosts, he lands five point seven to eight strikes per minute, which is very very very high. But he also absorbs four point seventy one like he puts himself right in the line of fire. And Emmett is limited in his weapons, but the limits are he's either got nuclear weapons or nothing, you know what I mean. So the so the consequences of getting that wrong against him can be catastrophic.
To me.
It's not just a place but inside the top ten, it's they're asking him a little bit to problem solve because if you can work behind a jab, if you're patient, if you can pressure, if you can set things up rather than I, you know, I kind of just bite down and go you you he this is a winnable fight. I'm not saying that it's a scrub, but I'm saying it's winnable for someone who is able to do those
kinds of things. And we've seen that he's got, you know, incredible acrobatic You know that that that spinning shot he landed on on Gigachikazi was incredible. But he, you know, he takes a little bit of punishment to get there. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get there. This is to me, the UFC asking him graduate also
not for nothing. Recall that you heard Laura Senko being like, you know, there's gonna be kind of like a violation I'm paraphrasing, but that there's gonna be kind of like a violence premium put on who the UFC promotes going forward. And it just feels like, look at this pairing. I'm not saying that that wouldn't have happened prior to her making these statements about the future of the company, but what I am saying is it fits directly in line with that kind of a thing.
Long may it rain for the future.
Yeah, that so I didn't see this loora Cenko thing, But that does seem semi accurate to me, right this doesn't it seem like that. That's kind of the That's maybe the unspoken thing with the UFCS. Like I even with just I think those last years start to cut you off struck. But I think I don't have the same opinion about both. But I think there was enough consternation around the Hamzad fight and the Islam.
Fights and other stuff that UFC.
Was just like, what the fuck I mean, so a guy likes most are you know, evil, like you're you're I just feel like that's you know, the kind of treatment of a guy like that, right is in that fight in print, it's just kind of like, well, we want guys who are going to deliver again.
I don't know if you ever sat in wait, like, I don't know when the.
UFCUH basically stopped doing this, but Dana used to always gather all the fighters on a card I think around the weighans essentially, and and tell them, you know, encourage them to go for broke to you know, die on their shields all that stuff. Obviously that has changed over time, but I get the sense that that kind of mindset is returning. You know, I don't know why I said that exactly, but there's just it's the indication is mostly within the matchmaking and uh and some of the guys
that they're promoting and how they're promoting them. It just kind of gives you that indication like this is like the violence at a premium is the way to say it, because I feel like those kind of guys, if you're going to go in there and that's your mentality, it feels like you're going to get the rub and the guys like Momsar, who's been how many fights I don't know in the UFC and doesn't have any finishes, is going to have a hard time.
Man.
You know, I think that that's going to be the new way we look at the roster. It's not an automatic thing. If you put string together a bunch of wins, it might come down to, uh, are you you know Carlos Prochausen like or you know those Michael Morales. Are you going in there to destroy the guy in front of you? And The UFC loves those guys right now.
Yeah, again, I think they like both sides of the forchhet host equation. They love the high output and they kind of like, you know that he fucking gets banged up a little bit, least statistically speaking. Now, Long Island, look, he put this in the asset rundown ahead of the show.
He long.
I want's bring him in set this up for us. Look at the self satisfaction.
I mean you, I said it was an optional clip. You could play it if you want.
But I have to play this clip here. I think it's more roasting BC than it is me. Right, it's not roasting anyone.
This was just my bold prediction for twenty twenty six at featherweight.
All right, fair enough, let's go. I'm done rooting against Long Island Lukes predictions. They're very Yeah, he's on fire. Let's go for our bold prediction. Let's go right to OCDA. What's your bold prediction? I fed the waight for the new year.
This was similar to my women's bandon weight last year when I said about Holly Holm.
Josh Emmett will headline a UFC event in twenty twenty six. Okay, they milked.
This guy for all these words for the headliners he has lost, like top of my head, three in a row.
Maybe even that ain't that bold, brother, that ain't that bold? So BC calls me out. It wasn't that bold of a prediction, but I mean it did come true.
We're only yeah, I mean bold or not quite accurate. I have to say it's bald.
I mean that dude does not does not a letter, but it is at the meta APEX right, And I wonder sometimes do we consider these main events still? Like I know it's a main event, but like I don't know.
Whenever I see an APEX event, I'm like, oh, good, I can hang out with my family.
Unfortunately, that's what that is.
I'm not kidding. That's if if they're on the road for a fight night, that's different. Obviously, you know, numbered event totally different. Yeah, you know, And I'm not saying I won't watch the APEX ones live, but like I can look at that and be like, oh, if I want to hang out with my family tonight, I can
do that because nobody fucking watching that ship. I will say this, do you see the jet you know Jack Slack the Yeah, like yeah, he had a hilarious tweet when Dana was like, Yo, now it's gonna be the meta motherfucking apex and uh he quotes tweeted.
It and he goes genius business strategy to uh what did he say?
There's like a genius strategy to you know, give naming rights to the thing we all hate, you know what I mean?
It's so true. Now we got to say meta apex. I'm not You're not gonna play that game.
I'm not saying meta apex. Yeah, I'm not. I'm not. You know, that's just not a thing that's going to happen on this on the show. For the stadium there in Washington will always be a RFK.
No fuck RFK, it's gone. You know, it's I went on my first this is true. My first date with my wife was at RFK. It was a DC United now and it was raining and you know, I don't know if you I don't know if you know this, but the stadium, the seats they would bounce.
And in fact, this is true.
You might have seen the renderings of the new stadium they want to build on that same property. And one of the things that has been not this is not a joke. One of the things that's being requested is that they find a way to make in a safe, like, you know, engineering controlled way to make the rows of the seats bounce. And I'm like, guys, I don't need that at all. Oh, it was some of our fondest memories in uh going to games.
No the fuck it wasn't. You were close to death. Stop stop promoting this ship all right?
Oh my lord, I never got to go there, but that the renderings, by the way, just look beautiful. That's one of the few stadiums I'm like, Okay, they might get this thing right.
They might get it right.
That thing was it was a mix between the Kennedy Center and the old RFK.
You know, they actually did get it right.
The last thing I'm gonna say on this too was I've seen the Nats play there. I've seen concerts there. I've saw the old Redskins play. I've seen one of the Commanders didn't play there. DC United I've seen played, I've seen like every I've been in every version of that stadium for however long it lasted.
I live down the street. I grew up on East Capitol Street, So yeah, anyway, it was.
A big deal back in there because those teams are so good, the Redskins teams, they were so good that you always thought about like their home field advantage.
This is a true story.
There was no there's a metro station there now, like right next to it is what's called the Stadium Armory, which is like a like a facility that the National Guard runs there. In fact, I saw on Spike TV.
I was there. I saw Adrian Broner on Spike TV fight Ashley Theophane. Okay, that was.
A rowdy crowd, but that metro didn't exist for the longest one. I grew up there, so people would just walk down East Capitol Street and throw trash in your yard. So after every Redskins game, we had to go in the yard and pick fucking trash out because it just be like thousands of people coming in and out. It's crazy. All right, let's go to topic number three if we can.
UFC commentator John Annix saying something I thought was very very interesting, namely, well, we'll play the clip here in just a second, but how he would change the UFC product if he had an opportunity to do so. Now I don't want to. I don't want to spoil the answer. So let's do this, Chuck, I'll have a question for you. Okay, let's play this clip and let's react. Do we think that John Annex's ideas are what could improve the UFC product?
Where do you think the product is at this moment? A lot has been made about that. I think that just comes with the territory of getting more fans. But sometimes people say, oh, it was better ten years ago, or is that just something that we are going to see. There'll be people in ten years that say, right now is the best moment, you know.
I think our biggest challenge is the fact that our events are way too long, and we should have ten or eleven fights instead of fifteen. And even if you want to make this broadcast five or six hours, and Hunter, I love you. Even if you wanted to make this five or six hours instead of eight, I'd be okay
with it. But we ask a lot of our fans, even fans as rabid as yourselves, eight hours times forty one Saturdays, right, So if I could affect change in one way, it would be too And we have a lot of masters to serve right Television partners in different countries, a lot of different things. A roster north of six hundred, getting fifty fighters signed on the Contender series every year,
which I think is less than ideal. But if I could affect change in one way, and perhaps it's selfish, because I'm a broadcaster that doesn't understand how we do back to back Super Bowls. Every time we crack a MIC, I would just shut I would cut one hundred and fifty fighters off the roster. I would do ten fights a card and just make it a much more ingestible, palatable sporting event.
I don't hate that ideas, what about you, No, I don't hate them at all.
And in fact, what he's asking for, Luke is basically to go back to the way it was, because if you look, I can remember very specifically doing a piece on this when they started to kind of boost the cards up to twelve thirteen fairly regularly a few years ago, and if you went back to the UFC before UFC one hundred, kind of going backwards, there were a lot of cards that were ten fights, nine fights, sometimes eleven fights, and I felt like from one hundred to two hundred,
eleven was kind of the goal. You know, you'd always have, like the prelims would be listed and there'd be like that one kind of outline, and then there'd be five prelims, and then there'd be five main card type things. Very very easy to kind of watch all of those, But I find it extremely difficult to sit and watch fifteen fights and especially alive at an event. Like from his perspective, man, God bless them, because that what they're doing is just
such a herculear thing. Every time there's a fifteen fight card to go for eight hours of you know, backstories, eight hours of information, eight hours of reads, all the things that they do. That's just such a marathon. But it's a marathon too for us who are just spectators. Sometimes you'd get to the to that main event and they would mention some of the prelims, or you try to think back of the first fight on the prelims, and it feel like it was like a fortnight ago.
It felt so far away that it didn't even belong to the event. That's a crazy thing to feel, you know. So I'm I'm all about it. I just I don't think that even the passion, like sometimes you're trying to create a passion in the room you want people to build towards the main event and feel like there's times where I feel like by the time they get to the main event, people are like, it's like a marathon. They're just barely getting to the to the finish line.
That's not ideal. You want people to be like at that point, brought up to the highest moment. They've been anticipating it, like in the old days. And I think that is one way to do it. Ten fights, to me is ideal. Do five on the preglems and five, you know, do five main card, and that's that's still a very long show and you get every thing you need from You don't need fifteen.
You don't need fifteen at all. Except here's the problem. Every time I see one of these things, it's like and you heard, and it kind of allude to it, which is it's not hard to imagine ways in which you can make you could, don't know, revolutionize the product, but certainly I think the way he put it palatable, there are ways in which you can make this more palatable.
And again what he had recommended was going from eight to six or five hours, reduced a number of fights to a card for ten, and then sign fewer fighters from the Contender Series. Now, I want to point out something here. Contender Series season one signed sixteen fighters, but in the last three seasons season seven, eight to nine, respectively, they signed forty six, forty two, and then forty six fighters.
So like it has taken on an outsized importance as a feeder operation to then staff the ranks of what they have. This is the problem to me. It's that the product as it currently exists, for as good as it can be at times, is it's not designed to be ma maximally palatable, right. It is designed to fulfill a variety of content delivery needs. Right, So they owe partners content to begin with, how many events do they o? The owe thirty fight nights. They owe thirteen numbered events.
That's part of it. They owe for when they're on linear television. Certainly this was a component and they've kind of kept the same thing, which was, yes, we've got the main card component, but then we also owe the prelims, the four fight prelims. We owe that to a component. And then you might say, oh, you can just cut off the other part, but you can't because those guys you have to kind of keep active as a way to staff the larger operation to fill nearly every weekend
with fights. So like, it's built in a way so that it can be scaled maximally. That's why it's as big as it is. That's why the events are as long as they are, and that's why they have as many events as possible because they're trying to take something and then pull it apart as much as possible to sell every piece of it. So like when he says, hey, wouldn't it be better go from.
Eight to five?
Yes, wouldn't it be better if we signed fewer contenders series guys? Clearly wouldn't it be better by the way he says, cut one hundred and fifty guys from the roster, no doubt. But they can't do that because the contractual arrangements they've made around content, length and delivery preclude that possibility. That's kind of the issue. It's not designed to be like, what can we do to make Fight Night a more fast moving but cohesive experience. That's not really what it's about.
It's about how do we stretch the shit out and sell it? This is why Chuck. This is why like people are like, oh, what do you want? From the UFC product, the question is less about what I want and what is just even possible. This is why the move from ten to nine is actually a pretty big deal. It's it is actually one of the few things they can do without disrupting the larger ecosystem.
Yes, one percent, And you know it's funny that you mention it, because yes, it's the arrangements they've made that puts them into this situation where they kind of have to hold this many fights. But it is funny because the way the UFC kind of I guess hatched their ideology on to what they were going to do as a brand, what they're going to do as a as a as an event and as a sport was be different than boxing. They were going to eliminate some of the ceremony of boxing. They were going to be way
more efficient, streamline and how they presented it. And uh, I feel like back in those days when they did that, that's that was one of the reasons it was so great. It was almost like they, you know, get those guys out of there, let's move on to the next. But they were it was all within a contained amount of time, and I guess you get into whatever they were trying
to avoid with boxing from before. You know, you get into your own burden, right, like of having an eight hour event, and I mean it's just not ideal, even given all the situation, even all all the things that you laid out, which is absolutely true, it's just not ideal for a fan base. It really isn't like you can't even retain the like you can't retain if the passion for that amount of time, right, like, whatever your love of the sport, that's a long time to be watching an event.
It's just too much time. It is too much time.
To the point you raise about the way they used to do things back then, it was them trying to solve for like how do we make this better? Oh boxing has you know, press conferences for example, like Whire. Yeah, I mean the UFC press conference has changed over time too. It used to be mostly just for the press. Now it's just a pep rally for the fans, which you know, I don't like that, but whatever, it is what it is.
But the reality is Chuck, Like back then, it'd be like, oh, boxing used to have like this guy would get up there, and then his manager would get up there, and then everyone takes turns of the days and it's slow and it's painful.
And then Dana was like, you know what we're gonna do. I'm just gonna come out there be like, who's got the first question? Right?
It was this way to streamline against what you consider to be boxing's inefficiency. But because they are now you know, I've said this before, I made this. I made this point on a recent interview I did on on where Josh Nason. I don't know if you know, you know, Josh yeah, I know, Josh yeah yeah. And I was talking about this point, like all content, if you go to Spotify, if you are on Netflix, the goal is just to keep you on the platform as long as possible.
It's not really about like, is Netflix trying to give you the very best programming that they can develop. No, They're trying to give you the kind of programming and the kind of use of the app that just keeps you on the app. Spotify is the same thing. The design is that you just stay on the app. What you listen to them is frankly immaterial, whether it's podcasting
or not. But the whole point is that they're going to try and find ways to keep you on the app a, Twitter and all the other social media as are the same thing. What they measure is time on app is is not how much you look at any one reel, it's how many reels you look at during
one kind of sitting. It feels like sports leagues are now trying to do a lot of this too, where the NFL is expanding into Europe and now they're going to Brazil, and it's cool to see some kind of internationalization, but now you're starting to stretch that product in ways
that just feels a little bit less palatable. And if that's the way you're going to arrange your product, it makes some of these concer iterations about how do you fix fans sentiment or a dress fans sentiment on the back end kind of remote to me.
Yeah, it feels like, now, do you still watch an event that's fifteen fights deep? Do you still watch from the very opening prelim on? I feel like you kind of do, because I'll see sometimes when I'm not able to get there, I'll see you that you're one of the people who actually tell us what's happening on those early prelims.
Yes, So what I'll say is If it's a numbered event, I definitely watched the whole no question about it. If it's a fight night, I might watch the whole thing. If it's an apex event, I'll catch them, motherfucker the next Not fair enough, man, I mean, dude, I can barely like for a for a post fight show, I can generate a pretty respectable audience, yea for fight night stuff. You know, it depends on where it is, like that U se kuitar one, who's fine. Yeah, for an apex like,
no one's watching the apex cards, like, no one. The only people watching those are degenerate, you know, the dogs. And then that's it. Yeah, exactly, it's the main card, Minute and his friends.
That's who's there. Hilarious.
But before we get to topic number four, let's talk about Mando. Let's talk about our friends over Amanda, who take great care of everyone out here on the show, and we'll take great.
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off site wide plus free shipping. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Mando's got you covered with Dealderant plus sweat Control. Say goodbye to sweatstains and hello to long lasting freshness. With that in mind, Chuck, let's go to topic number four. And this is something that I saw fall under the radar and I was like, no, no, no, no, no, we got to talk about it on this show. And I was so glad I put it on the rundown.
And you were saying if you didn't put it on the rundown, and you were gonna add it.
Thank god you did.
There was the recent in Las Vegas, I believe the twenty twenty six Combat Sports Officials Summit. This was hosted and I think run by legendary referee Big John McCarthy. And during the course of this they were talking about ipokes in MMA. And there's a couple of different things I want to reference. Put the screenshot of the This is the article here I screwed up. Is what it says inside the room where MMA referees sort through the good, the bad, and the chaotic. Of course, this comes from
your coworker, Ben. Folks over there love Ben at On crowned. He went to this event and there was a bunch of regulators there, including Andy Foster, the head of the
California Athletic Commission. We'll talk about that in just a second, but basically, basically, Chuck, during the course of this what Ben reports is that a the MMA referees recognize that the that ipokes in MMA are a not only a long standing problem, but an even worse problem today, and that on top of that, shouts to Big John McCarthy and others apparently along with him, he basically told the
referees you're you're at fault on here. You won't penalize anything, and as a consequence, we now have a culture of impunity that makes no sense. So does this prove, Chuck that belly aching from both dogs like you and me, as well as the fan base as well as the fan base ultimately plays a slow but critical role in how regulatory change happens in the sport.
I do think so.
And a part of that obviously is like with social media, like we'll see things. We've seen this for years where like something will happen and like we'll all talk about it and it moves on. But the ipoke thing is one of those is one of those issues that we've had in our crosshairs for a long time. They went through the you know, the gloves change thing where they're trying to like solve it this way. They've they've people have had different theories as to what you can do.
Most people are a base. I feel like we've got to the point now where people are like, hey man, you either you've got to penalize it. If you're not going to penalize it, it will never change. We'll just keep doing the same things again and again. And I feel like during this particular one, that's what showed up and it is I think it is kind of like a peer pressure situation. The fans, media, the media talks about it a great deal, uh, and you know, people
are asking fighters about it more and more. And I thought it was very telling or not maybe not telling, but it's funny. I guess in its own way that one of the uh, one of the great examples within the series of videos they showed at that summit was of John Jones just constantly, you know, using his hands kind of thrusting them out with the fingers out and you know how how this goes unpunished and that sort
of thing. We're at that point when you have a guy like Cyril Gonne who puts two fingers into the sockets of you know, Tom Aspacall, who's the champion and represents big business for you, and you're putting him now on the shelf, and definitely that it probably needs to be addressed. You know, you don't want to, like you,
if you have a hazard. If it was any other sport and there was a hazard out there that could be avoided or at least be taken, like made to be punished a little more severely, this would be the moment right like where you have a guy who we don't even know if he'll return. I know that sounds kind of like, you know, an exaggeration, but we don't really really don't know if Tom Aspinall will return.
I hope he does.
But you get into that situation you're like, we better address it, and I feel like it had we The media and the fans have talked about this fairly consistently since that time, and since it's in the news, I'm glad to see that they're talking about it. And I think a key distinguishing thing within that summit it was just getting rid of the intentional verse is unintentional? Right, Yes, that's the big part of it, because for the longest
time they're like, I was accidental, was accidental? Well, most things are probably accidental, but it really comes down to is it a foul or not? And I feel like that's finally where they're getting down to it.
Yes, as you indicated, the head of the California Athletic Commission, Andy Foster, said, they didn't. I mean, obviously this stuff has to be voted on and they can't just declare what it's going to be. He doesn't have unilateral power
in that sense. But to your point, Chuck, when he indicated, was they're just going to get or they're looking, I should say, looking to get rid of the intentional versus unintentional foul for all the reasons that we've already articulated, which is like if someone fouls Lebron in the NBA, if it's I mean, if it's obviously egregious, they can add a little bit extra to it. But the basic point is that it doesn't matter if it was intentional
or not. For the most part, did a foul happen is the question, and if a foul happened, then it has to be penalized.
I mean where we literally got to the point where.
Fighters were openly saying why wouldn't I cheat, and then in fact that they do cheat. I've interviewed multiple both on and off the record. I view Corey Sanhagen and I asked him, have you ever like intentionally done something like that?
I say, yeah, of course.
There was a guy that I think either was biting him or doing something so he like either bit him back or you know, committed some other He did an eye gouge, but with some other kind of foul just as a way to like set the tone for someone that was just something that was just going unpunished. Now to what extent this will affect regional MMA where you get a lesser quality of ref I don't know.
Also, I'll just say this chuck, you know. I do think that the answer is does the slow accumulation.
Of evidence matter to MMA regulators over time and the belly aching that you see from folks like us, And then the fan base. I do think that that it does. It does affect this so like there is a value to it. However, what I will say is it is painfully slow, glacial, and at times insanely frustrating, and you just can't look at that as like a this is not an efficient way to do regulation, you know what I mean. It has to get to like overwhelming stages before they really act.
You tell me too, man, because like one of the problems with this is in an MMA attack, you know, you need the dexterity of your fingers obviously in the grappling game and like all of that stuff. It's been very difficult basically for them to institute or you know, to kind of like say like, hey, guys, keep your fingers, you know, don't don't have your fingers out of that
sort of thing. Can this happen? I mean I feel like if you if you're if you're taking an automatic point, especially in a ten point must system where it matters in a three round fight, and in MMA as big as it does, I feel like fighters would instinctively keep their fists closed, don't you like, over the course of time, even with you know, the aspects of like maybe I need to be defending, you know, a single like fingers
can come out when those things happen. But I feel like the instinct would eventually take hold that you got to have your your fist clinch, right.
I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure.
I when I say that, I mean it quite literally, like I don't know, I don't know if that's the answer. I have been of the belief that one of the things I really don't like about the way the UFC approaches this is it just seems like they don't take the technology component of it as seriously as I would have hoped, which is really weird for a company that in general, you know, with the UFCPI for example, leans
into a lot of like scientific best practices. You know, I think most people would think that the PI, certainly at this stage anyway, is really good about that, and I would largely agree, you know, everything being state of the art, everything being you know, a leading cause of this or that, having a glove geometry that forces it over like for example, I've talked to I've made a
video about this on my personal channel. The Association of Boxing Commissions looked into it, and what they basically found was that glove geometry where it has it curves the fingers over. These are the only ones that have statistical excuse me, statistical significance in showing reduced eye injury. Those
are the only ones. And so it's like, if you have this kind of evidence and you have the Medical Board of the uh excuse the Association of ringside Physicians, So you have a you have a group of doctors being like that, we think this is a good idea, and then UFC being like, yeah, we don't care.
I don't get that part.
I think that to me seems like a better solution or at least at a bare minimum. You have road to UFC, you have contender series, you have all these things. You have places where you don't have to affect the core UFC product, where you could test this stuff out. I would like to see more of an open I like a better attitude towards using that.
Yeah, absolutely, man, your prediction, like in terms of ipokes, the amount that we've seen, especially ipokes right like, like do you think that we set we see people, you know, punishing that in the new year, like where it's like the first defense.
Becomes a point. Do you think that we see that kind of advancement. I think the first offense thing.
Can be a good tool, but I think is a little bit heavy handed for most If you've got someone who has a demonstrate history of either negligence or ipokes whatever, or someone who's been a unique victim to that, then I think taking the first point is important. But I think the question is not that one. The question is the second one. That's the one that I think is the most important for most people. Again, in most context, if they don't do shit, then then they're doing nothing.
That is really the demarcation line for me, to be honest with you. Okay, I think that one's the most important, but I have to say hardened to be like, well, finally these motherfuckers are getting around to this shit, you know what I mean.
Yeah, it's always nice because you don't never hear from them otherwise, Like these types of things are at least like you know, it's like you're like, oh, there is some kind of accountability. At least he's showing in videos and saying like, hey, we're being idiots, you know that sort of thing.
No, No, they call me when they get mad at me. That's what happens.
Say something like these people don't care, and then a bunch of regulators will call me and be like, this is totally not fair, and I'm like, I got to tell you, I think that it is.
Yeah, Douglas Crosby one of those guys that gives you a ring.
He won't stop fucking texting me, and every time I see it, I'm like, all right, with that out of the way, let's talk about topic number five, a bit of a boxing round up, and as we mentioned, Chuck is going to be going to Vegas to go to ZUFA Boxing number one. We'll talk about some of that a little bit just a second. Let's start with a bit of an opening piece of news. Ji Opataia has
signed with Zufa Boxing. As you can see a cruiserweight twenty nine to zero six foot two reach of seventy six inches here on the graphic, He's got twenty three KOs. For folks who are MMA fans and don't really know the significance of it, ji Opataia has a claim to being the best cruiserweight in the world. I think he's the Ring magazine and IBF champion. The other one would be Zerdo Ramirez, who I think is WBA, maybe WBCs. I think WBA champion, but in any event, it'd be
one or two of those guys. This is interesting, right, Chuck, because on the one hand, they're starting in the APEX, starting modestly. I don't think Callum Walsh has a super bright future, but it's maybe fine for like a first event, main event to have him in this particular circumstance. But you know, on the one hand, they're like, oh, we're signing a bunch of prospects, they're trying to sponsor USA boxing. But on the other hand, Opataia is a no bullshit signing.
He is a very very very good fighter, still young enough, represents Australia, undefeated as you saw, and arguably is the best in the weight class.
How do you explain Zufa's.
Ambition on the one side signing prospects and starting in the APEX, and on the other side this is a legit, no bullshit signing.
Well, do you get like the sense like you're mentioning the production. You know, crew may not be just ready yet to show everything and build everything at once as they get into a new era. I wonder, especially with the ZUFA boxing if this thing is just harder than they understood, and like everything has been slower to develop, you know, over the course of getting this together, because
we were talking about this last week. I mean it felt like not knowing the main event just a couple of weeks before the main event was so anti like counter ZUFA, you know, like for the longest time knew everything that was kind of coming up within something because the promo packages were already made and this one was very slow to be put together. And then you get Callum obviously is like the main event, which I think a lot of us predicted because the UFC has been
behind him. I was a little surprised it was going to be at the Apex because you just mentioned it earlier. Like a lot of people don't pay attention to these events, so it almost cottons closer to like a slap fight or something like as an aside from the UFC than
it does in actual unveiling of its new product. But I would say that the signal is that they intend to change that, and maybe that that is kind of where they're at with it right Like they're going to try to start rostering some bigger names, putting on some bigger fights and hopefully they get out of the apex.
But that's kind of where it's at, to be honest, I feel like right now it's just kind of you tell me your sense on it too, because like right now, I feel like it's just been kind of a mysterious unveiling. That was the first piece, like you know, sign up, signing a big name to to some kind of semblance of like.
Okay, here's the strategy, here's what we're going to do.
I think, uh to me, you know, you saw that we we can't play it because of the Rolling Stones thing. But you saw the video that came out with Dana promoting zupa boxing, just Max Kelman narrating Max kellerming.
Won't what'd you say? What in the North Korea?
I mean, just like Max Kellerman just there. I mean, I don't, I don't even know who he is anymore. But the point I'm trying to make is if you listen to the language, it's very ambition oriented and like big picture and you know, who can fix It's almost like who's here to fix boxing? Like this big broad ambition and I think Opataia fits onto that side of things.
But as you indicated, you know, let me ask just a basic question, who is the ZUFA boxing matchmaker, Who is the ZUFA boxing scout clips that they have you know what I mean, they don't who the who the fuck are their teams? And the reason why I asked this is because I was there in Vegas, as I think I told you previously, for the Canelo Crawford car right, and the UFC team, who probably didn't want me in there.
They were so overwhelmed they were like, yeah, I just go on and we don't even give a fuck, you know, because they had the San Antonio card and Kendella Crawford. Now granted that was the same weekend, but so is this So I mean, it's different days, but it's essentially the same weekend. I don't think they've even built out the internal infrastructure. I don't think to make all of this work. And so I think you can see where
there are like the eyes are on the prize. But on the other hand, this is just the reality in front of them as they slowly kind of inch their way forward. That's my sense of thing.
Did you think that they would be able to do more with the with you know, at this point when they're ready to roll out their first event. Did you think that they would be bigger and that they would already have more going for it at this point?
Yes, But in retrospect, I don't think that it matters. I really don't. I think that.
One the ALIAC changes haven't gone into place yet.
True. I mean, okay, the legislation hasn't passed. It's not like it's passed.
But the bill, by the way, goes to mark up tomorrow, so we'll see if in what any changes take place as a consequence.
So there's that.
The other thing I would say is again between like, I can't overstate this. Just to get the UFC on Paramount show ready to go, they had to take a forty day break, you know, just to get that going, and then they want to add in on top of it the ZUFA boxing component. There was really no way to do it other than this, to be honest with you, given the internal constraints of what they're trying to build.
So at first you're like, oh, well, that's it, But then when you think about it, you're like, they're just.
Getting started, you know what I mean?
Yeah, And I mean the way that he's kind of laid it out. I will say that Dana has kind of I think he's pointed this out to an extent, right, that it would be a little bit more of a slow build. They would try to build stars within their model, and they would do I think he said, only one ZUFA boxing card per month, right, So that's a pretty that's a pretty like realistic way to go about it.
I get.
I'm a little bit anxious, I guess to see if I can find any answers as to what's what the plan is all that stuff when I go out there this week and uh and take it in, We'll see how it all works.
Man.
But I have you been in the APEX before, Because when I've been in there in the past, it's just the events themselves, like without that real like a real audience.
They're tough, they're tough to watch.
So I'm like, it'd be very interesting now, like it's not even MMA, it's a boxing event, and we'll see the crossover media, like who's there like some of the fan base.
It'd be very interesting to check this out.
Also, It's like, don't get me wrong, I think they've got some legit prospects on that card. You know, there's there's there could be some good fights. I don't we'll see. Yeah, I'm less impressed by Walsh, but whatever, like there could be fine. But it's like, if you don't have fans in there, which they might, they might have fans, But if you don't have fans in there in the Apex and you want MMA fans to watch boxing, dude, good fucking luck.
Good luck. You're gonna need it.
That's the other thing to me, I'm like, as it seems to me that there's like this, Hey, guys, come on over to this side too and check out boxing.
The way we're gonna do it. We're gonna build it like the UFC. You're gonna love it.
I'm not sure that this card or anything coming up in the in the little bit here, especially at the Apex, is going to achieve that, you know. And I felt like that that's that's another thing we'll wait and see on. But you've you've done this and this show is one of the few that touches on boxing and MMA, and as you see, sometimes, man, there's two sides to this, and the one side doesn't want to look too deeply into the other. It's just kind of the way it's been.
Also, if you're a boxing fan and it's like, oh, it's been Saudi this, and you know grandiosity that, Yeah, this is not that you know. Again, it makes sense for the UFC's purpose or TKO's purposes, I get it. But it's a big departure for them, so some big stakes. I look forward to your coverage this weekend. Now, other pieces of boxing news, we should note Canelo Alvarez has announced he'll be back in action in September for Mexican
Independence Day. In fact, before I ask any question, we've got Turkey making the announcement with Canelo.
Let's roll that tape, Champ wait for us in September twelve of.
September, big, big, big fights, and this is will be the first cup for Canelo Romo promotion.
It will be name.
Of Mexico against the world, all the fighters from the team of Canelo against the world and the champion and the main events and world title and it will be surprised in Saudi Arabian.
Shot.
Now the audio is not great, long Island. Look, did he say that the fight was going to be in Saudi Arabia?
Shit, I don't know. I wasn't playing close enough.
September twelfth, Mexico Versus the World started Canelo promotions.
I heard all that, I didn't hear where it was going.
I think at the end of did you hear that chuck? I don't want to say I make it out. I just could not make it out.
But like that would Mexico versus the World from Saudi Arabia would be very strange.
What they're They're fucking killing the American and UK.
Market with the ship.
Now, I mean they're not killing the UK market with Canelo, but they're killing the American market by having Canelo fight over there. And I saw his single to my own first, Yeah, I mean this is yeah, I don't know what the fuck are we doing. This is so fucking bad for American boxing. It's so bad for you know, the Mexican
American fan base. It's so it's just so terrible. That being said, if he does come back on that day, which of course he always fights single to my own, Uh, anybody you think it would be a good fight.
For him, Well, if it's if it's Mexico versus the World, does that exclude David Benavitez, Like, because I know that David is not like a you know, born in Mexico, But like does that exclude.
So I think Benavidez is going to fight in Las Vegas on that same weekend.
Okay, obviously that fight one of those ones people have talked about and UH would like to see. But I guess the the bevol matt like the rematch to that because that first fight being what it was, and it was the last time Canelo lost. If you're really trying to do it up big, I feel like that that might be a very good option. I'd like to see that fight too, like where where Canelo was at at this point.
In his career.
And also I also I get the sense sometimes with Canelo, even as he's getting older, a second look at somebody, it would be very interesting to see kind of how he handles himself. Right, any interest in that fight, Like, is that something on your radar? No, Canelo is washed.
He's washed.
That first Bivol fight was not competitive and he's not gotten any better. Sense then, I don't think Bivol has gotten any worse, So to me, it's not competitive.
Him has washed it. But I know what you're saying. In the last in that fight, I didn't see Heim was washed in that fight. I saw him as honestly, yeah, A little bit of that was the problem. That was the issue. All right, Well, who would you like to see him face?
Okay, so I'm thinking about this, so you can't like, how washed can he go with the matchmaking? Could they do a plant or Berlonga or Mungillo rematch? I certainly fucking hope not. I don't think so.
Honestly what I think, and this is something that was teased before. I think they're gonna go Chris you Bank.
You Bank killed himself to get down to those fights for Connor Ben. This would be back at a normal weight class for him. I guess they could do six year sixty eight depending on what Canelo wants at that point, but you know, a much better weight class for him, and it would bring you know, it's a big enough name, it's got a UK name. I don't think it would mean much to Americans, but they'll watch Canola no matter what.
To me, though, it's like, I think this is one of those questions about like what is even left for Canelo, because I know he was like, oh, I want to get the I want to get the Crawford rematch, but then Crawford retires and so that's really not a place. It's like, does he go to a place in terms of matchmaking that is I mean, if he did a burlonger rematch, I would probably cry, to be honest with you.
But could he go Jermal Charlo, Big Charlo, that's a possibility, you know, could he go Hamsushiras That's what Yeah, that's a that's a tough one for me.
See, that's why I don't think he does it.
I think he goes you Bank, who is manageable, I'm reckless as a strong word, but hitable and you know has a relationship with Turkey. You know, Yeah, that's that's to me a likely scenario.
It's it'd be sad though.
I guess if Canelo is as Washer is just saying for that, because like if he's fighting, you know, in Vegas for instance, I've been out there when Canelo is fighting. I've been in the hotel when he's at the hotel,
and you see the entourage, you see the people. Is such a feeling if you're going to do a Canelo fight at this stage of his career and you know the writing is on the wall, you really wish that they would put it in United States because you're just not going to get too many of those, right, You're just not going to get too many more of those types of events that draw that kind of enthusiasm from people in the United States.
No, yeah, I dude, they're putting this motherfucker in Rio. I know.
Oh dude, it's now, which leads me to my last one, which is that Golden Boy had an event I think over the weekend, but it was a one off and the deal between them and his Zone is off.
So let me just set the table here very quickly.
Top rank American Boxing promotion has no television deal PBC. It's on Amazon, but certainly not a linear television and godling like, what is the Amazon deal done for PBC? Not nothing but not much I think would be the answer. And now on top of that you have Golden Boy, and here it is first source. Golden Boy and Zone have been discussing the extension of the rights deal. The contract expired three months ago, and then the event you saw on Friday was a one off. There are no
other Golden Boy events scheduled on Friday. The Barrios Garcia pay perview that's coming up is one of Turkey, so it's not actually a Golden Boy event, and that'll be on pay per view as well. Dude, I got to tell you this is to me why the pitch. I mean, people are like, how much worse could it be if ZUFA Boxing takes over? And on some level it's like how much worse could they do?
You know what? I mean? Like this is so bad.
My retort to that would be like, I just can't believe people think it's a good idea to have one company who's the dominant promoter in wrestling, in MMA and boxing. That to me seems like you just dystopian. To be perfectly honest with you, however, however, and just assessing the situation, Chuck, could you have imagined even five years ago that American boxing would be fucking erased from the American sporting landscape as quickly as it has been. I will tell you
I did not see this coming. No, I didn't see it coming either, and you wonder too.
I Mean, the biggest issue has been I feel like if you didn't really follow boxing and you just kind of paid attention when big fights are trying to be made, you would see this kind.
Of like.
How hard it is for the two guys in the same weight class from different promotions to come together and to actually do it.
And that has been that.
So when you're talking about zuofa boxing, I guess in that sense, if you're able to make fights with all the red tape and you're able to see them, that would be restorative, I think to the scene. But No, to answer your question, man, I mean, there's no way that I would see like it would you know, you mentioned Golden Boy to Zone and like you know, some of these other ones like a top rank with with ESPN not existing or you know, not renewing or just kind of being in place with these to have a
television deal. No, I could have never seen this coming because boxing, out of everything, has been like kind of the more ubiquitous of the combat sports, and this has kind of been you know, ongoing well before there was even such a thing as UFC. So to me, you know, especially with the kind of resurgence maybe you tell me too, but like with the resurgence of the Saudi money and everything that came in, it felt like there was a little bit over twenty twenty five, certainly in twenty twenty four,
twenty five more of an eye on boxing. Certainly, people who I know that were never into boxing, we're paying attention to certain events, which was a big deal in my mind.
But yeah, I don't know.
I feel like sometimes the fragmentation between the promotions, you know, like makes it so difficult for people to really pay attention and tune in, and somehow that that indifference starts to reach the streaming service or whatever the platforms and you arrive in these spots. But it's a bad look for American boxes. It's a dark day in that sense.
I just can't believe how I mean, It's true the older you get, the more you see things like this. We were like, there's never been a year in boxing where you're like, oh, you know, boxing fans aren't complaining. I mean, twenty twenty three was super hot, but like even then, it's like all the sanctioning bodies did this
and this guy walked away from that. Like the inefficiency efficiency of it kind of always rubbed people the wrong way, but you kind of dismiss it because you're like, you had a hot year and twenty twenty four wasn't exactly as good, but it was still pretty good, or or it was it was decent. Then last year things really took a different turn, and now it's like a completely
barren landscape. What I'm trying to say is like this, It's like it's very easy to dismiss Chinese water torture when the first fruit few drops are happening, right, but like over twenty years, Chinese water torture is unbearable. You know, it's like a great point. It's just nothing ever happens, nothing ever happens.
And then all of a sudden, it all comes crash down.
I've tried to I've tried to make it more of an effort honestly, to like embrace. But you know, because so many of us in this space, there's so much going on in MMA that you just stay in that lane. But I've tried, because there's so many dynamic boxers coming up, and so I've been to multiple big events over the last couple of years, soaking in the atmosphere, just kind of getting to know, you know, the fighters better and
stuff like that. And I was at the Boots and His fight with Chikaids in I think when in twenty twenty four, at the end in Philly, and the biggest thing was a you know, now he makes the move, right, he's going to go fight virguo Ortis. That was well, Now you get into twenty twenty six and that fight was being looked at obviously it was everybody thought we
were going to get it. And now you get a situation where you know, his own and Golden Boy, you know gold He's got the lawsuit against Golden Boy Virginal Artios, So it's like, does it happen? And I feel like this is kind of what fans end up dealing with, rather than getting a fight that you think you're going to get and maybe the one you kind of desire after watching a guy kind of come up the ranks and what's the best fight for him next to challenge him.
I feel like we're always mired in this kind of thing where it's like, Nope, you can't get there, you can't get that fight.
Also, like you know, it's amazing at the beginning of the NFL season where they're like, here's here's the calendar, this is all of your games, this is all the games you're gonna play, here's your bile, here's the rest of you know what, I mean, and so you have this grand anticipation both about the start of the season but about each week what each one represents and even for the league. Oh, you know, there's a lot of commanders.
By the way, this at the beginning of the season had like a bunch of primetime games, and then they didn't perform very well. Jadon Daniels was hurt half the time, right, and so they flexed a bunch of them. But they have that capability to then, you know, rearrange things in a way that's even more dynamic given the circumstances, and boxing has just never really had that. People have said like, oh, you you know, it would be better to have one
dominant brand control it. And my answer to that is always the same, which is, Okay, I can imagine that to be true in a world where there's significant athlete protections and that same brand is constrained in certain ways about you know, you know, with those protections or what they can and can't do, as well as it's not the same ones giving you MMA, and it's not the same ones giving you pro wrestling. Under that circumstance, yes, sure, I can understand that there might be an argument with it.
The degree of inefficiency in boxing has been absolutely poisonous to it. But I mean, what can you even say anymore? They the the the architects of it.
The the what do you want to say?
The the people tasked with its, with its perseverance, they all fell down on the job.
They all fell down on the job.
It Is it just coincidence or is it I don't know, symptom like so zoop of boxing. We all knew it's gonna happen. Now it's gonna happen in the in twenty twenty six. It's and then you see these other hubbless you know, is it? Is it one of those things You're like, well they're getting into it, maybe we don't want to be in it, Like is it?
Does some of that exist? You know what I mean?
Where you know, certain entities are like we're not getting a the bang for the book, and you know zopa boxing is kicking a zoopo boxing factor into that landscape, you know what I mean?
It's not true what you mean like who are the people who would be punting?
Well, I'm saying, like you know, like for for de Zone not to be you know, not to have the partnership, right like if if yeah, if they if we're not going to see the the streaming services that we're doing it before h with ESPN and Top Rank for instance, like they don't have a deal right, like they're just that's come to an end. But is it does that have anything to do with suber boxing? You know what I'm saying, Like, does does that do there's one plan to the other?
It might now I don't know if it did, you know, back when some of this stuff was less clear. It's a great question for the Zone because now if you you know, like Top Rank hasn't had a deal for months, like if the Zone wanted to sign them, they could have just done it, right yeah, you know, uh and they didn't, And that to me is like a huge red flag, like Golden Boy, if they wanted to resign them, they we could be done with this already, you know.
And it feels like we've been talking like sort of like eulogizing the you know, the PBC thing for a long time. I mean, we'll see all this all plans out, But the truth is, you know, you've seen this in.
MMA, whereas where the death of a promotion it actually takes a little longer than you might imagine.
That's true, it does.
They hang on in ways where they kind of just find a way to put events on and they're cutting half the budget and no one's getting paid, but the show's kind of still happened for some reason, right that. I think, you know, you might see some of that. But like, honestly, these fucking morons, these sanctioning bodies who just created infinite titles and never forced mandatories, they really fucked up. These promoters who got greedy and didn't want
to work with each others, they fucked up. And dude, the chickens have come home to roost and now they're about to get their mother fucking lunch money taken from them. And baby, yes, congratulations. Now you can watch Canelo Mungia too in real so congrats. All right, that's it for our top five topics. Let's transition now if we can't, we do have a fun segment at the end planned. However, I have a doctor's appointment, so I don't know we're gonna be able to fit it in.
We're gonna try here, Let's see.
How you Let's go to it's time now where the fans get to ask you and me some questions. You and I You and right, it is time for dms from dogs.
I hate that fucking sound. It makes me feel at home. It's a dinver Broncos sound. So that's good. Oh right, well it's a donkey, it's not a Bronco. Well they call them the dogs.
Okay, all right, here we go. Question number one from Lord Page. That's a weird ass name. What do you think will headline UFC three twenty seven in Miami in April? This person writes, my pick is interim light heavyweight so Olberg versus Parhatchka and Men's flyweight.
Van versus cop.
Hmmm, So three twenty four is this weekend? Yes, three twenty five will be Vulk Lopez. Two, three twenty six is Max and olivera. This will be the one after that Miami.
Okay.
Yeah, it's tough to predict these ones that start to get near the White House because I've mentioned this as a as a vortex, because you're not sure how much talent they're going to concentrate into one thing and what that would mean to the surrounding cards, to say two or three months either side, right, I would be okay with the fights they mentioned there like that. You know it is is Parira just guaranteed to be out, Like, what's his status right now?
I mean, just think until we know if he's going to be on that White House card. Yeah, it seems foolish to add him anywhere else, you know, Yeah, that's true.
I mean, to be honest, I feel like they normally speaking, you'd be like you'd have some kind of projection on this. But the way this paramount thing is, it's kind of the abstract nature of that White House card. It's hard to say who will end up on something like that.
And honestly, you know what's kind of funny is these Miami cards have ended up being something rather important for them, the bigger I'm trying. I'm looking here on the calendar. So when they last went to Miami, let's see here, that was three fourteen. That was a great card. Yes, Lopez one here, I mean, you know what, let me pull this up here, Miami.
There we go.
They've got John so again. John Silva was on that. There were a lot of lot of good fights on that.
Then they had UFC two ninety nine that was O'Malley vera tu that had some decent fights on there as well, and then they had UFC two eighty seven which was Poeton Izzy too, which.
Was a huge fight.
Yeah, so they've had some pretty big main events up there, and Poeton has fought there obviously one of the bigger stars in the company. But again, to your point, I think it's a totally correct one, the UFC White House card in terms of like sucking up resources both before and it's like a black hole and it's just hard to know what's gonna get pulled into the gravity, you know.
Yeah?
Yeah, next next one from Asray videos, ass Ray what what are the Man in the Hats? Top five favorite films?
Wait? Do you go around like do you go around with the top five?
Like you know, like that you're always like I could just cite my top five like top.
Five, No, but I could go top three maybe.
Okay, Man, Well I would have to include if you're talking about just the impact right like with like your life inside is Star Wars, the original Star Wars would be up there because that was something that was ubiquitous in my whole life, like it was always there, and it's like, so if I'm going down in different genres too, like I love the Shining I like the Kubrick version of that.
God that's jackets Well. Metal Jacket is awesome. Man.
I don't know if it would be in my top five. But see, this is what I'm saying. I don't really think this way, but uh god, Okay.
Here's the question. If you're trying to sound smart to someone, what do you say? Oh?
Man, the turn Horse. It's the one about Nietzsche. You remember, you ever when Nietzsche was like, uh, he broke down when he saw a horse getting whipped like and beaten. That's what sent him into this kind of madness. It's it starts with that and then it just gets darker from there. It's a black and white film, but it was really well done. It's uh white films that they are they make.
It was a good one, dude. I'm I'm a little bit.
I I hate cheap action films, like for the most part, I can't watch them like I do like thought provoking movies, you know, so I will say it like that.
Man.
It's very tough for me to distill it down to five, but I do like that. I like movies that kind of have something more to them, and you know, they have real direction and good acting and all that stuff.
Kind of a snob that way, And you know what I watch.
I didn't do it on purpose, but I just kind of noticed over time that foreign films are a little bit. The better versions of foreign films, not like any old one, but like the better versions, they tend to have less American movie making convention built into them, obviously, yes, and as a concert, and they tell you stories that you're not super familiar with because it's like, oh, what is it like to be a person in this part of the world under these circumstances.
I don't know anything about those things, you know.
Yeah, So I've been watching a lot of Iranian movies, like they're frikling good.
Yeah, do they're good. Somebody just recommended one. I don't remember the name of it. It was an accident, that's what's the one.
That's the latest one.
It's like that actually does sound right, but yeah, man, I loved or it was just an accident something like that.
Yeah, I think something like that.
The last one I saw was Seed of the Sacred fig which was they had to shoot it into ran in secret.
Wow. It was badass, like really really really good.
Favorite you're one of those people I would actually take recommendations from There's a lot of people are like, oh, you got to watch this, you got to watch this, and you watch one of them and like, okay, I can't listen that. You've lost your credibility, you know, like at some point you send you send me Astray the first time, you.
Mean, like BC being like, dude, I liked Rise of Skywalker. Get the fuck out of my life, you know, give the fuck out of my life. Like the sequels were better than the prequels. Yeah, dude, anyone who's like, dude, the prequels are great.
I like jar Jar binks you're a fucking idiot and your parents don't love you.
Okay, all right, you've been on that one for a bit. Just camp. Here's the thing, because I this is the funny part. Love. I've said this a million times. I'm old, and I know that I'm old.
I don't know, there's no how could I hide such a thing. But I was nineteen when the prequels came out. I was nineteen, and I remember the entire country being.
Like, this is bullshit. These movies are terrible.
They got mocked on Conan O'Brien every single night for being how fucking bad they were, and then the people who were kids at the time have now grown up being like, no, we love the prequels. You're a fucking idiot and your parents don't love you all right. Next uh from Empty Booble, Does Chuck have a favorite hat? Well, that's an important question.
Yeah it is.
And you know most of these are directed tored me because that graphic they did was like Chuck Minton Han was like a strong male prequel. So, uh, probably there's like a traveling Barcelona that I bought, like the original one, Like this way back at UFC one oh seven at the Peacock in Memphis, they had like a little hat place. I bought that, and it's always been one of my favorites.
But I'm not even sure I still have it, but that at the time I wore it a lot, and it was kind of the beginning of the Man in the Hat and all that stuff.
So I'd probably say that one. Go full screen on Chuck here for a second. Look on the left side, if you're watching the screen, look at the hats. Yeah, exactly, on the ones over there, look at all that.
Shit that kind of extends over there too. It goes, how many hats do you have?
And then there's a few more on my door over here with the Ryan Garcia gloves. I probably like these types of hats. I probably got like thirty of them. But I had like a deal with Boston scally Cap. Yeah yeah, so like, uh so they made like a myth hat. So I've got to I've got to if you count those, I've got a bunch because I sell them. But like in terms of just the ones that aren't that probably like thirty and then a bunch of ball caps.
You know, you got to cover up the ball.
Dome, man, you know, just let it go. Why haven't you flown to Turkey? And then this was an Eric nixick thing. Uh Eric Nixon. I saw him fint last straight. He's like, dude, you gotta go to Turkey, man, you gotta go to Turkey.
It was all about it.
He's just gotten back and he's got a nice lush head of hair. Now it could be men. I'm not gonna do it.
No.
I was with Sean el Shoddy. It was also like he's been bald since he was twenty one. Yeah, I mean it's insane. Yes, that's the only reason that truly.
It's the only reason I haven't got on TRT yet is that I know that you can also take medications to prevent hair loss while you're on TRT.
But it's like, I don't know, No, you got like nice, you got a nice head of hair.
There would message what I'm saying, like I'm just gonna punch on this to have some bigger muscles for a little bit.
I don't know.
Yeah, all right, Next one from von beckcal in your opinion, boys, which MMA era would you consider it?
The Golden era? Great question? Check what do you think? Just to the sport, it had to be.
It would have to be around the time of the of the Sale, right like twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. Yeah, because you had the biggest stars at that moment, and Ronda Rousey's still around, you had a Connor McGregor, and there was just it felt like it was as big, you know, I don't want to say it as big as gonna get. It felt like it was still going places, but it felt so big from where it had come from, and there was just so many good fights that they were making at that time.
I agree. And also like one thing of one of my.
One of my issues with the current state of MMA is that like, in some ways it's got more cultural cachet and relevance than it ever has. But it used to be a broader more like it had more subcultures, It had more it was a more interesting thing because there was more to it. And to me, MMA has
gotten more homogenized and a little bit smaller. Even though it might be in certain ways globally more popular, it's still it's it's less of a thing that invites more people, you know, but fifteen twenty sixteen, where you're like Rowsey is at her peak popularity, and like, do you remember.
When Rosy gainst Man, Ye might be.
Do you remember when Rowsy first came around and it was like little girls were going to UFC events, like a bunch of them, and you.
Saw I saw girls crying when she went up and signed their stuff. I was like a roped off petition thating she went over and signed and they were crying like they were like was the Beatles.
It was amazing to see that, And I think that kind of thing is kind of lost. Yeah, all right, I think there's one more maybe from Bucket of Chips. Luke has had a few embarrassing moments we know, well Jones, fad or, I don't recall what that one was, But what have I've had many of them? What have been some of Chuck's most embarrassing moments with a fighter?
Oh?
Oh, like you know where John wouldn't answer my question. Or I had a bad interview with Fador, which, by the way, is Fador's fault.
I mean, yeah, he's not a good Yeah, yeah, I mean the no, I haven't had a ton of these, which just I'm fortunate, you know, like and most fighters, I feel like, have been fairly okay with me. But Tim Sylvia like and this was all because his manager at the time, Money Costs, called like he was trying to make a point that when Tim Silvia came to the gym, he didn't really he wasn't that good, and he called he was like, oh my god, who is
this fat tube of shit? That's what he said to me, right, So there's a quote of his, not mine, like he's a fat type of shit. And then as he kind of ascended in the UFC and became a champion, he's like, oh my god. He was trying to say, like, my fat tub of shit became a champion, like he was trying to give him his flowers, as such as like saying,
like I I I was wrong about this guy. He's actually that good, right tim Sylvia saw that quote a pull quote and a piece I'd written about Bettendorf and got very very upset by it, thinking I was calling him a fat piece of shit, and I think he was on some show, maybe Ariels, he was on some show and he was basically, you know, kind of threatening me up. But I wasn't necessarily embarrassing, but it was a little embarrassing that he didn't understand the context of what he was looking at.
Listening and reading comprehension skills are in short supply of these days.
Yes, but I mean, honestly, not too much.
Besides like stuff like that, like guys getting pissed off over you know, reasons there You're like, ah, it's not really, it doesn't matter.
I mean, BC has uh has pissed off a lot of people.
I've pissed off got the whole flyweight the strawweight division, right, like it's been kind of offended or.
Well, the charlow's cursed him out on him.
Yeah, So I've had I've had a few of those as well.
Yeah, is that it are? I think that's the five that's it.
Unfortunately, we have to punt on the thing that we had try or we're gonna try today because I do have a doctor's appointment.
I apologize everyone about this, but we'll bring it.
We'll get to it either the end of this week or the beginning of next one. Chuck, where can folks find your coverage this week? What's the best place to get what you're Yeah.
I'm gonna do.
I'll have something in the zoof of boxing. It's gonna appear at Uncrowned probably on Saturday. I'll have some kind of wrap up piece there, and that's where all the UFC three twenty four coverage of mine will be as well.
And of course you can see the socials here down below. We are on TikTok, we are on YouTube, we are on ig and then Twitter. Don't forget merch. You can go to Morning Coombat Dot Shop. Of course, the poster is available for I think half off or something approximating that, and then of course the Stranger Danger logos on everything, including the two different kinds of shirts. They last until January thirty. First, we will have a show later this week. Well, we're gonna break down everything.
I do have to go.
I apologize, Chuck, safe travels, my friend, enjoy the meta apex, and I look forward to your coverage. All right, man, very good for Charles Mindenhall. I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you all so much for watching. We're out of here until next time. May all of your gains be loyal