Live Chat: Can Coker's Ki MMA Make a Splash?

0:00This episode is brought to you by TickTack. Lay some and get your game on because the TickTack lineup just got a new teammate. Dr. Pepper TickTack. This new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mince. And when two iconic flavors come together, the result can only be iconic. Score big. Try Dr. Pepper TickTack today. I haven't slept in days and I had to take a dump today on the plane in economy class. Hello everyone. Let's do some live chatting. My name is Luke Thomas. Welcome to episode 319 of my live chat. I join you not from the capital of Estados from Needles. No. In fact, you can see all of my wife's things here. I don't know what the hell she's buying. I decided my wife had a, I said a business trip in Boston and it got extended. And so I thought I would come and visit her for a couple of days because it's been a while since she's been home. So, you know, had to check in with her.

1:02But I'm here ready to do this live chat. So thank you for joining me on this 17th day of September episode 319. Let's see on the docket today quite a bit actually. You'll, you'll get to Portia is back on social media. There is a Justin Gachi glove controversy. Such that you want to talk about that. There is the return of finally we got a debut of a concept from Scott Coker and this new venture. He's on called key MMA spelled KI. We can react to that UFC 331 is this weekend. We can react to that. There's actually quite a bit going on. So, if you would be so kind, thumbs up on the video, hit subscribe. The way this live chat works, y'all know how it works. The first thing we do is I put up a post asking for questions a day in advance. Typically, you guys fill it up with questions. That's on the posts section here YouTube YouTube.com slash Luke Thomas will go for about an hour on those questions that you upvote. And then we'll go to the paid portion. How does that work? Well, I'll take any support on this channel that I can get.

2:07So, if you just want to hang out and you know, you're not ready for a donation, that's cool. But if you do want to donate, it actually goes quite a long way to supporting the channel. So, you can fire something into the super chat and then I'll get your question on the screen. And of course, if you're a member, you can do that for free. Tag off. If you have an issue, I'll tell you hit me up before the podcast started to tell me that there might be an issue with him being on on time, but he will be here. He will be here. All right. All right. Let's see without further ado then. Let's get this party. Excuse me. Here we go. Let's get this party started, shall we? Bonjour, Compadre. It's the. How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget. The priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than priceline. Hold your horses. There's more. The app that you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beach fronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting the ice.

3:15This episode is brought to you by TicTac. Lay something, get your game on because the TicTac lineup just got a new teammate. Dr. Pepper TicTac. This new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mince. And when two iconic flavors come together, the result can only be iconic. Score big. Try Dr. Pepper TicTac today. I decided to start a little earlier today because I am running on motherfucking fumes, bros, fumes. I haven't slept in days. There is some unresolved things I have to work on behind the scenes that are driving me a little bit crazy. One of which is there will be a political live chat tomorrow. I'm not sure about the time. It'll definitely be in the afternoon, not the morning. There is no mk tomorrow, right? Because we did already a pregame preview on Tuesday. So there's no mk tomorrow.

4:16But I will not be able to go live at 11 like I normally would for like an mk episode, be a little bit later in the day. So I'm not sure how that's going to go. We still are not set up on that channel to get the questions and stream yard on the, sorry, the questions from the super chat onto the screen. And I don't know if that will ever be repair to be honest with you. That is is proving to be quite a challenge to fix that. If it doesn't get fixed. I don't know what I'm going to do because it's a big problem. So we'll see. We'll see how that goes. I will do the live chat no matter what. But I will not be able to do it in this particular case where I'm ever to show things on the screen. Right. All right. Now the one limitation today is I'll be able to get your super chats on the screen. I cannot get the free questions on the screen because I just have my laptop here. This is my phone. You're looking at and this is my laptop. So I'm at the mercy of. This. All right.

5:18I haven't slept in a long fucking time. A long fucking time. I could not remember the last time I got eight hours. If I be saying well, the caffeine doesn't help, but this is the first day I've had caffeine past noon. I just couldn't take it anymore. So I had to do something to fucking buck up. So I could be here with you guys. All right. Well, that further ado. Let's get these questions going here at the top. All right. So the first one since Barbus died has your daughter or wife brought up. Since Barbus died has your daughter or wife brought up the idea of getting another dog. But breed have you always wanted but never had. I don't want breeds. I mean, you know, it's fun if your neighbor has a golden retriever. They're very reliable breeds or, you know, I understand why police use German shepherds or why there are hurting animals on farms. Like in those particular cases, a breed might be a really important significance.

6:27To me, it's what they got at the mother fucking pound. Like I want a dog. I think most dogs are pretty cool, not all of them, but most dogs are pretty cool. Some I would work better with than others, but I just it's like whatever they got. I'm going to connect with one animal down there or I'm not. But I'm not interested in like, oh, I want a certain kind of look for a dog. I think that is, I don't know. I think that kind of thing. I don't think it's the end of the world, but you know, that kind of breed fetishization is what leads to getting bulldogs, which cannot give natural birth. And a bulldog can't physically give birth naturally. It has to be done under medical supervision. Well, all birds, I suppose, don't some little have to be, but they had they can't give it naturally. So that has to be administered by a medical professional. These Frankenstein's that we've created in the dog world and just like, oh, they're breeds now. That's like a bulldog like that should not fucking exist. If you cannot reproduce naturally, then you know, that should be the end of the line, right.

7:32So I don't really care about breed. Have they asked about it? Yes, every single day. Yes, they both want a dog. My, my daughter wants a cat and I'm like, nope. Not doing that shit. I had three animals die in four years. My cat got cancer in his face, which was awful. I mean, we put him down before I got too terrible, but even by then it was fucking awful. My one dog died of old age and then Barbus died of heart failure. And all of it was costly. All of it was terrible. All of it involved. I'm sorry to say this to everybody, but if you never had a dog get old, this is less the case with the cat, but like with the dog, shitting and pissing everywhere, like, you know, in ways that's brand new. You know, so you're just constantly cleaning your house up after them. Dude, it's awful. It's awful. I mean, I'm not saying I'll never have another dog again, but I'm not.

8:32Yeah, you put three of those animals down in four years. You're like, you know what? I think I'm good for a while. Did you watch, okay, good question. Did you watch any of the press conference slash brand meeting or Ariel's interview with coca and chow about key MMA? I know your stance on UFC rivals, but coca actually seems to have measured and realistic goals instead of declaring himself the cold leader from jump or have an AI video that had an AI video announcing a current roster of the local retirement home specifically thoughts on a tournament alongside super fights, no uniforms for fighters, a ring instead of a cage and a stated focus on developing homegrown talent through tournaments while using bigger names to draw attention with super fights. PS I'm the bone marrow transplant. Oh, shit. There we go. I continue to do very well health wise and I've now done three boxing classes and even one no key class to get back into training. Oh, yeah, there we go. Still loving all the content, but now I'm back to using you guys as entertainment while I work out.

9:35Not just while I recover. Awesome. Well, I'm very glad to hear that great question generally and please keep us informed. I'm glad to hear that you're doing great. Let me answer that question as best I can. All right. I watch the I watch the opening. What do you want to call that? I watch their presentation at Chip Rionnies. This is one of those ritzy places in New York where it's like, you know, you want to be seen. Obviously, it wasn't it's not very far from Wall Street. You know, so I think to me, it's not really a coincidence that they were kind of having this one downtown trying to be very visible. All that kind of stuff. And then they didn't have a television partner. And they have 13 dates they're going to do. They didn't announce one, but I guess we're going to get one first quarter.

10:35Maybe even in January, I believe don't hold me to that. You can look those details up, but that they definitely don't have a as of now anyway, they don't have a broadcast partner. And I mean, they're obviously still looking for one. They put it in a press release actually just before the show here. This guy rose in. I forget his first name is going to be their media rights guy as they try to like solve this problem. But like, you know, part of what that event was was not really to announce a concept, but it was kind of to go a little fishing to get some money. You know, they talk about having $60, $65 million. And I want to be clear about this like that. I don't want to sneeze at that at all. That's a real accomplishment that you can do something with. This idea of like, oh, we can afford any free agent. No, you can't. You cannot afford any free agent with just $65 million to run everything. No, you cannot. You can afford a lot of free agents. And maybe that's sort of what they mean. But this idea of like any free agent that's available, especially when you're trying to be fight or friendly, they can afford. No, you can't.

11:38That's just not realistic. But that's really not like, you know, any kind of make or break issue. I would say this, I think that they are, they are, there clearly is a lot of thought that went into this conceptually. And some of it may work for you. Some of it may not. Some of it has a real logic, even if you don't like it. Like so, for example, you asked about like, do you like the ring? I mean, look, it's, it's, it's really going to be a matter of preference. The reality is that a, the sight lines are better in a ring. That's just a fact. MMA used to be in a ring and a cage much more regularly. Obviously, that's nothing that's going away. As part of just a way to create a brand differentiator like we don't look like the UFC going in a ring clearly solves that problem or at least you know, makes a meaningful like, hey, we are a different kind of MMA product. And part of the reason that's true is because you can see it better in like the surface and the, you know, the, the, the vertical surfaces also very, very different.

12:45I think that that also might be intentional in the sense that, you know, wrestling is a little less effective in those scenarios. And I wonder if that's kind of intentional. So maybe keep the action going. But I think that there's a bigger play that's happening here. And I really wonder like, I want to be very clear. I don't know if this bet is correct. You know what I mean? Like we're going to see what this bet is. And I'm going to tell you what the bet is in just a second. But it's a bet. They're making a bet. They're making a bet. What I got from that event was that they're basically making a bet about the value of nostalgia in creating a fan base. They want to have a differentiated product. And I think that they will. They want to have a different identity from UFC. And I think that they will. I think they got that part right. And again, there's pluses and minuses to the ring. But as a brand differentiator gets you to something that's better. But a lot of it was like baked into this idea of like, you know, there's just a lot of like, oh, the way things used to be used to be MMA was often in a ring. It used to be much more about the martial arts. It used to be big deal fights happened in pride.

13:58It used to be kind of all these things that aren't really that way anymore. And so the question you have to ask yourself is, isn't really true. That what the modern MMA fan wants is to have nostalgia indulged and to go back to a kind of aesthetic and way of presentation of MMA that doesn't really exist anymore. It certainly did at a moment in time very much so, but it doesn't exist now is what the modern MMA fan wants is what they want that I am skeptical of that. I am skeptical that that is what they want. I recognize that that can be a brand differentiator. And perhaps I am wrong about the nostalgia aspect. There are certainly other parts of our broader culture where nostalgia is kind of in play. And it's a little bit more important and forward and people are seeking it out. But MMA in particular does a really bad job. And this is all parties, but it does a really bad job of not merely honoring its history, but even acknowledging it. I mean, you're just constantly being fed the steady diet of the next one and the next one the next one. No one really ever looks back. What is the modern MMA fans, not just the hardcore on ones online. And of course, you know, you might get those ones first depending on how the product looks.

15:13But like what is the modern UFC fan because that's really the modern MMA fan. What is the modern UFC fans relationship to pride. You know, I'm sure they've seen some pride fights. Maybe some people have sought it out, but it doesn't really feature prominently. And is what their is what those fans want. And it's a return to something kind of like that. That's that seems to me a big part of this bet not merely by putting it in a ring, but by kind of sort of like, you know, making the the martial arts angle of it all. It's a very different thing than the UFC. And I think that that might help them get the money that they're looking for to really kind of complete this deal in the way that they need to. So again, there's there's a real logic to it all, but it's also just kind of a bet on nostalgia. And I don't I don't know what the modern MMA fan will say yes to, but I am skeptical that like that is what they're asking for. I think the other thing you would look at is that all these names that were on the stage with them and there's fatal or there's a random tour. I think Frank Shamrock was in attendance. Gilbert Melendez Eddie Alvers. I think Nate Diaz was there. Now, Nate will be the exception in this case, but it's just a lot of names that were big during my generation.

16:24That the current MMA fan has no real relationship to again, how many modern fans, especially ones have been here the last couple of years, few years. How many of them have gone back and watched fade war fights and pride or Randy Cato or fights again, probably some, but these don't feature prominently. They have a different set of heroes. They have a different set of memories. They have a different set of aesthetics. They have a different set of experiences. And they don't necessarily line up with it. Now the counter to that is what they had these guys on stage to show what cooker has done previously or to say, hey, look, this guy has a reputation for being fighter friendly for a really long time. And that you have this kind of shows that you got the guy from UFC one in there and horse crazy. And I think that probably is a very valuable thing that they were able to showcase all of that. So again, there was a logic to it as well. But I think the I just think that like what's what's kind of like this undercurrent is to me. And I guess that would let me say the thing that I gives me the most amount of belief in what they're trying they're clearly putting thought into it.

17:31They're clearly trying to say that you see goes this way we're going to try and go a bit of a different way. They got all of that and they have a vision and I think and they've got some money. They didn't have all the money in the world, but they got some money. Like they've got some things going for them. I also should say it's just great that people are trying to put money back into MMA whether this succeeds or it doesn't. They're trying to put millions of dollars back into the American and more than that, but certainly the American MMA market. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. I think the thing for me that's most important is it seems like rich chow is a matchmaker, but maybe a little bit more. And I will tell you that that gives me a lot of comfort. I have a lot of respect for the judgment and the awareness and just the smarts and knowledge industry of a guy like rich chow I think very highly of rich show. So it seems like he's taking on a more prominent role and I think that that can only be a good thing. So like there are just many, many things that you can look at and be like, man, there's just not there's so many parts of this. You just can't complain about there's other parts of you can be very excited about. There's like me. I have all those feelings and then on top of that, I also just have some concerns conceptually about what they're going for here.

18:40But I think the thing that like stood out to me is a lot of what they were pushing was cocker hageography and you guys know I have my differences with cocker. I don't deny that he was a very, very successful promoter for a very long time and he had a lot of like just did a lot of really good things. And I think he's got a lot of best practices like the tournament idea. I think is a good idea, you know, trying to really be you know, this is not a complete revolution in what they were doing at Bellator. It's very, very different in certain ways. But it's the same kind of cocker build from the ground up sign from the top down model. That's the thing that he's been going for and most promoters, but you know, it's explicitly one of his strategies. The thing that I think also gives me a little bit of pauses like if you notice some of the accomplishments that they share from the presentation, they're all from strike force like there's none from Bellator guys. I'm going to say this one more time. It's very, very weird to me that everyone is hyping up cocker's genius not because he doesn't have real accomplishments that he did in the industry. He does and he did and those are important. And again, he's putting money back into MMA now. I think that is very lawatory. And I honestly the best thing for MMA would be for this kind of thing to take off.

19:47We're going to put MMA in a ring. We're going to make an nostalgia play. You know, we're going to do martial arts more than just petty Jerry Springer squabbles like that would actually be a great thing for MMA. But I had to cover Bellator at showtime and I cannot tell you how many fucking times that the main event would end in the crowd mercilessly booing the place out of the venue over and over and over and over again. Like the idea like Bellator was important and Bellator did good things. And I certainly think that what cocker was doing was better than what Rebony was doing by a million miles. But like his ideas couldn't sustain it. You can say, oh, he's got more, you know, latitude now. Okay. Okay. But like the like the ideas that he was powering could not sustain it even at all. Like Paramount was just ready to get rid of the whole thing when it was all done with it. Like they were just cutting ties. And the point I'm trying to make is like when I go back to this nostalgia play. Right.

20:48I mean, how much of this is just ideas that he's had the whole time that are just kind of getting recycled a little bit maybe a new coat of paint a new name. You know, but like it's still the strike force grand prix. It's just a different name now. And again, I don't think that's a bad thing. I think some of these things are winning ideas. And I'll say one more time. The fact that Rich Chow has even more of a leadership role tells me that, you know, they're going to get more decisions right than they're going to get wrong as long as he's able to have those contributions. But I'm just trying to point out what they were pushing was coca ha geography. And I just feel like the story of that is yes, there was a moment in time where he was he's always been fighter friendly. I won't take that from him. But he had major accomplishments as a promoter. But I'm sorry, Bellator. That record is at best mixed. And there's a lot of reasons of concern for being like we're just recycling old ideas through that. So I guess I'm just going to say I think it's great that they're trying. I think it's great that they're putting money in the market. I think that they've got great leadership around them. I think that the sport needs something like what they're trying. I truly do believe that I think trying to go in this direction to me is actually quite interesting.

21:54It's personally much more appealing to me than it is, you know, seeing two guys call each other, you know, F slurs on and weigh ins and stuff like that. Like this is way better for me personally, but I don't know about the nostalgia play and the nostalgia play to me is part of just, you know, just repurposing an old playbook that I'm not sure the modern fan has any real attachment to. We shall see. Oh, good one. What do you think about Ilya claiming Justin had something in his gloves when they fought? Is he coping and giving himself a mental out for the defeat or is he trying to build hype around the potential rematch by playing the heel? I've always found him insufferable, but I'm sure taking first loss in the way that he did in the White House lawn has got to mess with your confidence. So maybe he deserves a little grace. Really wish he'd just eat the damn humble pie though. What are your thoughts on his former number one booster before Niten Yahoo glaze?

22:58That's funny. All right, let's talk about that. So I asked, I only asked two, but I asked two very well known high level, you know, have coached and cornered in UFC title fights multiple UFC title fights. I asked them a question. I want to put this to you. In boxing. If I am fighting, let's say, I don't know, Tyson Fury, right? Because I'm heavy weight, Tyson Fury is heavy weight. If I am fighting Tyson Fury, the way that it works is in boxing. He can send someone from his corner, and I can send someone from my corner to watch each other get their hands wrapped. So in other words, I can get my hands wrapped and someone from his team can come in and observe the hand wrapping to make sure that the hand wrapping is above board. Okay, and then vice versa. Someone from my team can go watch him is the handrapping. And that's the way it works.

24:00I asked two MMA coaches who have coached in multiple UFC title fights if they've ever been afforded that opportunity and the answer was no. Now, that doesn't mean anything that Justin did anything wrong. And I want to be clear, I'm not a certain Justin did anything wrong. I'll talk about what I what evidence I've seen or what's evidence I've seen, but what's presented as evidence anyway. But I do want to say, I think one way to solve this problem, or at least at a bare minimum, added degree of transparency to the process is number one, you'll recall that they didn't allow the DC commission to do this. They just association of boxing commissions just basically jacked off in all of our faces and was like, you know what, we're just going to do whatever the fuck we want fuck you is basically what they did. And they regulated it themselves despite not, you know, whatever statutory authority they have is zero. I mean, they just self regulated basically is what kind of happened here and they use the ABC to longer. So I just want to point out they didn't even use a real commission. Number one, number two, they don't allow this apparently in UFC.

25:00Now, I don't know if this is formal policy. I don't know exactly if it's a gray area. I don't know if it's a thing that like they could do, but the commission doesn't enforce it. I'm not sure where it is. All I know is the two coaches I spoke to again, we're talking between them. Many, many UFC title fights have never been given the opportunity to do that. And any boxing coach I know has done it a million times. Okay. So there is to me, like, if you're going to go to a place, can you please use a real commission and not saying DCs is like the highest ranking one, but it's a real one. And then second of all, let the let someone from the corner see their opponents or their fighters opponents and get wrapped. And I think that would solve a lot of this. As for the evidence itself, I didn't see much personally, that to me indicated that there is anything even bordering on conclusive. I know that there is a video that's out there. And I forget the name of the gentleman who put it together. He does raise some interesting questions about the nature of how the hands were wrapped, something he calls grip bars. I'm not an expert on hand wrapping the two forms of hand wrapping that I'm familiar with and the one that you might be familiar with is the one from the Margarito and Koto fight, or at least the presumed what Margarito did, which is called stacking.

26:19Right. You guys know what stacking is. So stacking is you're supposed to have all gauze first and then you can tape at the end, but what you're not supposed to do is like tape first on the knuckles and then layer it. So then you go tape first, then gauze, then tape, then gauze and so forth. They call this stacking. And then especially as you sweat and you get hot, it actually, it actually swells up and then can get hard. Right. So you can make a hard surface from what they call stacking. The other thing you can do is they'll take the some of the tape sometimes and they'll kind of roll it in like almost like a spiral and then they'll use that between the knuckles. Right. So you get an extra ridge on the knuckles to do that. I don't know what the name of that practice is called, but you can see stuff like that too. So stacking and then like putting the ridges through the knuckles. Those are the ones I'm familiar with. This video basically suggests that there are some hand wrap methods that were used that are banned. And the proof for that is there is an interesting kind of suggestion, particularly on this side of it on the hand on inside the palm.

27:26But there is not conclusive evidence. Again, no one watched them get their hands wrapped from the opposing camp. So it's hard to say exactly whether or not they went tape gauze tape gauze tape gauze or anything else like that. I'd also say like you would need some kind of either clear video evidence of when the hands were being wrapped or some kind of forensic evidence after the fact there is nothing like that. That I'm aware of certainly anyway, I doubt they've preserved the hand wraps at this point. So I don't even know what the situation would be if they wanted to look into that. I suspect that they wouldn't even bother. But you know, in any case. So the point I'm trying to make is, you know, is it possible that he, you know, use some kind of stacking technique. I mean, it's possible, certainly, but I think that the evidence is, you know, it's interesting to consider. So when I use the word evidence, I don't mean like it's conclusive. I mean, like what is presented as evidence. It's something to consider. You know, it did seem to me that he had a little extra steam on his punches, but at the same time, like part of the timeline and that one video I saw was didn't quite match up what I saw in the fight in terms of, you know, what shots had impact and win.

28:35So, you know, all that kind of stuff is really possible, but to me, like you have to have a pretty good evidentiary basis to make some claims in that regard. And I just haven't seen that. I haven't seen that. I'm not saying that didn't happen. But I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. So taping and motherfuckers like cheating the system and trying to tape a different way. Like here's just a question of the ask yourself if no one's observing in MMA and UFC if no one's observing their opponents get hands wrapped. Like how often does this happen. Even if it's just like negligence and some kind of way you got a more inexperienced hand wrapper or whatever the fuck, you know what I mean? Like how much of this like there's just I'm not suggesting that there is impropriety what I am saying though is that there's no transparency. There's no transparency. New rule, man, this you can already do this in boxing in boxing. You can already do this. We need to see corner, go watch opponents hand get wrapped on video. It solves it solves almost all this shit. It solves almost not again. It's not going to solve everything, but it'll make a big dent in the in the thing.

29:42And it's like we're already doing that in boxing. So here's a question for you. If Zupa boxing takes off and they get whatever they want with the UBO, are they going to knock this practice off? I'd be a question. I'd be a question that would have like what's what's what's Zupa boxing's plan to allow opponents hands to be wrapped by or observed by their by their opponent. Bonjour, Compadre. It's the how do I negotiate so many great travel deals, my greatest gadget. The price line app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle deals, game day deals, concert trip deals, no one deals more deals than price line. Hold your horses. There's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood vibe star level and amenities like pools and spas and beach fronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting the ice line! This episode is brought to you by TicTac. Lay sub and get your game on because the TicTac lineup just got a new teammate.

30:45Dr. Pepper TicTac, this new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mince and when two iconic flavors come together, the result can only be iconic. Score big. Try Dr. Pepper TicTac today. If Tom Aspenal does not return to fighting, is that the biggest what if an MMA history? I mean, I think the thing I would say, I know you're not suggesting otherwise. I want to be very clear about this. It's a perfectly reasonable question. It's a great question, actually, but I just want to say, if Tom Aspenal is unable to return to fighting, the last thing on my mind is like, oh, what if is this? I mean, the thing that I would say is when I see something like that, if that were to happen, that is, I mean, I've seen guys have to hang it up because of too many concussions or some kind of brain injury or something like that.

31:51Or, you know, so many injuries like in the case of like a Kevin Lee, who's knees got banged up and he just never really was the same afterwards. I've seen all of that. I don't know if I've ever seen one like this where it gets an injury that, you know, it looked bad in real time, but not like anything that you hadn't seen before. And then the guy gets mocked and then he can't recover and then he loses his title and then he had already lost a bunch of time anyway. And then was trying to get the fight. Dude, if John Jones comes back, by the way, I mean, how fucking funny would that be? To be honest with you, how fucking funny would it be if John Jones was like, now that the coast is clear. Oh, my God, that'd be hilarious. In any event, so the answer to your question is yes, he might be if it's the biggest one, but I just want to point out an underscore and say that this guy's a human being who was mistreated. And to me, more than anything, it's not a question about like where he fits in terms of MMA trivia, but like what are profound professional sports, sad sports story that would be a personal story.

33:01I just it would be sad in every way. I really, really, really hope it doesn't come to that. I really do. He should have had it better. Hey, Luke, now that you're old and washed, yes, I am. My understanding is that you no longer train. That's true. I wonder how this affects your tape study is your ability to fully grasp the intricacies of current best practices negatively impacted by not being active in gyms. Yes. How do you bridge the gap? Great question. It absolutely negatively impacts it. No question about it. When I first started doing breakdowns, they weren't very good breakdowns because I wasn't sure what I was you have to learn how to do a breakdown independent of the actual tape study itself. Like what information is relevant and how to deliver that. But I was still training at the time. And so like I was doing best practices in the field and then turning right around and just talking about what we'd seen in fights.

34:10And so there was very close symmetry between them. And then when I first stopped doing it, I noticed, especially in Jiu Jitsu, there's just a lot of things that begin to change. And I had really never tried before like K-Guard. I've never done K-Guard. I mean, I've done variations or things that are kind of similar. There's obviously a million different forms of inversions. But I've never really done K-Guard. I've had to learn about K-Guard after the fact. And so that's going to limit the kind of thing I can do now. You don't see a ton of K-Guard in MMA. And the K-Guard that you do see in MMA tends to be, you know, the less sophisticated uses of it. So like one of the things I've realized is yes, there's more catch up to play. On the other hand, by the time new stuff makes its way to UFC, you get it. You tend to get a somewhat distilled more simplified version of it. That's easier to understand rather than some of the intricacies you might see at the high levels of black belt. You know, in Jiu Jitsu or even things like pure wrestling, you don't have the highest level. Those tend to be intricate in ways that you can't really discern. By the time it gets to MMA, it tends to be distilled down to its essence.

35:16And it becomes easier to grasp. So there is that. But the answer is, you know, what I do break down videos. I haven't done one in a while. But when I do them now, and as well as given disclaimers the whole time, I know that there's stuff I don't know. I mean, I don't know the thing that I don't know, but I know it's there. And so I try to say, listen, I don't have the full picture here. I'm sure I don't have the full picture. But I have something of an idea. I'd like to share with you my idea about this. Here's the evidence for my claims. See what you think. But then I, what do I always say I was encouraged to hear what other analysts have to say. I mean, that's it. I mean, that should. I don't want like I don't try to, you know, it's not realistic for me to say something like, oh, this is this is how a guy won in the most authoritative and definitive way. Like it's this. It's my presentation. Mine might be something that is a helpful guy to understand it, but I certainly won't be comprehensive. And I also say this to it probably won't even be the best one. I just try to stay within what I know. And I hope that that is useful for the audience. Ultimately, that's up to them to decide.

36:20In addition for next MK fan submission, next time instead of saying now it is time for us to look at your artwork and put it on our proverbial fridge. You say, now it is the time for us to sift through your shit and put it on our proverbial toilet. Okay, that's bad humor. If I don't get my wish, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new key promotion. We kind of did this one. I'm excited as I like what I heard on aerial show from coaker, the idea of them looking for talent gym to gym, the pride style gloves and the ring brings a lot of nostalgia of the pride and strike force days. It does, although I mean, strike force was not in a ring, but I don't know how much the modern MMA fan wants that pines for that misses that feels like a return to that is what they want. I hope it's true. I hope it's true. Like I said, dude, if that is true, that's a really healthy development to me for MMA. You know what I mean? Like that would actually be a thing that's why the sport has contracted, whether it's still contracting, I don't know. Maybe it's not. Maybe it could grow again.

37:30But if you're able to make something that's like, you know, a pivot away from UFC and not just UFC in terms of the cage, but like, you know, the aesthetics and frankly, the culture. It's a little bit more palatable to a mainstream audience to a more martial arts oriented audience. This would be a wonderful thing for MMA. True. I mean, that was great sincerity. I don't know if that's what they're looking for. And I think based on who UFC has kind of made the modern fan, like the kind of audience that they saw, which is, you know, a lot of dogs and fucking goobers. I'm sorry to say, you know, obviously that's not the complete fucking version. But there's a lot of them more, especially way more than there used to be. Is that what they're looking for? I don't know. I don't know. Armin is apparently having the streamer neon in his corner for the fight this week. Am I over reacting or I feel like he hasn't been taking fighting seriously and who he could seriously hurt him.

38:34Yeah, I don't love seeing shit like that. I mean, it didn't, you know, I think Mike Perry was able to get away with it when he had coach coach Latoria in his corner. You know, there's been ways he's been able to make it work. But as a general rule, man, I don't really believe in shit like that at all, especially when you're armin and, you know, is, is thin ice the way you describe it. I'm not sure. But, you know, your place in the company and like, oh, the things they'll do for you. Like none of that shit is certain. None of that is written in stone. Like that is very much. You know, like they can just do, I mean, they can do this is true for anybody, but it's especially true for armin. They can just do whatever the fuck they want and they will do whatever the fuck they want. And you need to give them a reason to want to do something for you. And, you know, getting out there and just having some fucking bozo streamer, you know, I just, what's the priority here? We're going to make content while you have a fucking, I mean, for him anyway, it's certainly a number one contender fight, whether that is for who I don't know, but certainly is for armin.

39:46You're just going to fuck around and have some bozo in your corner for for clicks or I think what did he pay money to be there or whatever the whatever the he's not there because he's helpful in providing analysis. Oh, we don't need another voice. Okay, but get someone who's worked a fucking corner before. You know, if this doesn't go like, can you imagine if this fight gets out of hand in the first round and then each subsequent round gets kind of worse. And then you you're like, oh, yeah, I'm glad this streamers here to really give me the advice I need to advance my cause like, can you imagine the fucking irresponsibility of that kind of happens. And by the way, you know, I mean, I picked armin, like, you know, Armenia, y'all know my mom is Armenian, but like, who he is, he looked like shit against BSD, but now we're hearing that he may have been really sickening that time. I think leaving fighting nerds and going to Volk is going to transform his take down defense, the question is whether he got enough of it.

40:46You know, before this fight, and I don't know if that's the case, but like, dude, I'm not expecting armen to go in there and just if he had stayed at fighting nerds and all that kind of stuff, then I would be like, oh, armen's going to run away with it. But because who fee is like actually trying to level up and making smart decisions about like, you think who he's going to have bitch ass streamers in his corner. Fuck no, fuck no terrible decision making. May not cost him in the end. I mean, this is what dude, I listen, when I wasn't a price fighter, but like, this is what I mean when I was a young guy, this is what young guys do dumb shit dumb reckless shit. And most of the time, depending on who you are, if you're doing, you know, dumb shit, it's not like every time you do it, it catches up with you. And so you think like, you know, all right, I can just kind of do dumb shit, you know, I'll put a little safety consideration here, I'll be a little careful there. There's going to do dumb shit. And then like something cataclysmic has to happen to you, you're like, oh, right.

41:49Armen seems like. Armen's got a lot of ability. I do think he should have already had a title shot. I'll say that. But that dude loves to learn the hard way. He loves it, seeks it out. Cannot fathom error unless he, you know, it falls upon him. Seems to me that if I, I mean, would you can say in favor of Armen is that he even said, hey man, if I don't win this, like they're never going to give me a title shot. So like, I do appreciate that. I think he'll come in shape and I don't have any questions about that. I do think he's the superior wrestler, obviously. And he at least understands the stakes, right? He knows if you don't get the job done on, or you know, you look like shit or whatever on Saturday, this might be it for you. Like, it's time to go. Okay, I can appreciate that from him, but. Just having a fucking streamer in your corner. Holy shit. Holy shit, bro.

42:51This person writes is Nico Ali Walsh, the greatest example of selling out your family name ever was he fair in reversing his objections to Zufa. I mean, this is my opinion. I don't know Nico. I don't think he's a, I really don't. I don't think he's a bad guy. I don't think he intended to hurt boxing. I think he I genuinely think he intended to help on some level. You could argue that the things he's requesting to the extent that it shows up in final draft language. You know, that that will have improved the legislation in some kind of a way. You can argue these things and I wouldn't really stand in the way of that. But like basically at the end of the day, I'm not sure how much any of that matters. You know, this is the fundamental point that like I'm trying to, you know, I could get out here and rage out. Boxing. John Nash disagrees with this, but respectfully I disagree with him. I don't think that they put in hardly any effort at all to protect themselves. I think that they have been dismissive of the threat of Zufa and TKO every single step of the way.

43:55There are some that have spoken up, you know, and you could say, well, someone so could have done a better job. Yes, that's true. You cannot invite yourself to be. You know, I'm just speaking in front of Congress, they have to invite you to do it. And so, you know, all the game is kind of all rigged in that way. But no, I think they've done a very, very bad job, a very, very bad job. And I think that they're going to lose this fight in all likelihood. And when they do, they will have no one to blame. I also simultaneously wish that like, you know, one of the problems with this is obviously boxing. But you know, the one of the problems culturally with combat sports, kind of leaning to the right or the impairment of just being a man of sphere of Jason. And then, you know, the boxing is different because of its racial composition. But nevertheless, there is a bit of a, you know, or undercurrents of, you know, right wing. And anytime any group of young men are together in any kind of, you know, way, there's going to be a little bit of that happening in this country at this time. I think part of that what has happened is that the left is just so utterly checked out on sports generally, but in particular combat sports.

44:58I've put MMA aside like, you know, you'll, do you ever see, you know, any kind of notable lefty figure at boxing fights. Again, forget MMA just boxing, just boxing. Do you ever see that? Do you ever see anyone besides me? You know, I don't go to fights anymore hardly at all, but like besides me, do you all see anyone on the left talking about their, you know, hey, did you see the Fabio wardly fight, love a blob, the day on Dubois? You see him doing an a that shit like it's not on their radar at all. And you know, there's a lot of reasons I think for that. I think partly I blame the left. I think partly I blame other factors. But whatever the case may be, they're just not paying attention. I think that to me is the part that really fucking kills me because here is a labor rights issue and one that should be front and center in terms of the kinds of things that they typically care about. And they have no knowledge like someone called in. Dude, if anyone from the majority report is watching the shit, you got to get me or John Nash on to talk about this. I can't believe more aren't doing this. You guys didn't see the Samseater on the majority report. A guy called in from Mongolia of all places to tell them about the Ali Act destruction that's being attempted in Congress.

46:04They had no clue. And I don't blame them for necessarily having no clue, but I'm saying it's part of I like Samseater. I like the majority report. I like Emma. I like that whole team. I like it. I like him. I like him a lot. But you know, there are the kind of people that should be all over this story and no one's covering it. They're going to fucking waltz right through everything. But getting back to Nico on this one. Dude, this is not complicated to understand. The problem is not that there weren't enough safety precautions for minimum pays per round. It's nice that they fixed it. Sure. It's nice that they fixed it or different health provisions that they've added or in some kind of a way, you know, meaningfully addressed or whatever you want to say, like just putting something in there to make health and safety a little bit better and pay a little bit better for certain kinds of boxes in certain different places in the taxonomy of boxing. But that's not the fucking point. That shit is the point. The point is the UBO model should not be allowed to happen. That's the fucking point. And the new legislation. I mean, I guess we'll see what ultimately they come up within the end, but they're not going to get rid of that.

47:10But the point is to defeat that. That's the whole fucking point, Nico. The whole point was to defeat the UBO. Not all we're going to get more pay minimum rounds or better health screens or whatever. I'm not trying to dismiss more paper rounds or better health screens. I'm not in any way upset with any of that. I'll ask that stuff. I'll be the first one to hand them the pen at the signing ceremony and say great job well done. If that's what they really want to do, who would be against such a thing. But you know, and the other one I think he said was like, oh, guys from UBOs are going to be able to fight each other whereas before the initial language they wouldn't be or not if they can fight for a WBC titles. I don't know how they that's going to work out in the final draft legislation. It doesn't fucking matter what they are trying to do is create exemptions within federal law that exempt them from these practices, which they see as good. Which they see as constraining, but the reason why they see them as constraining is that they ultimately have a way of dividing power within the industry and they don't want to divide power. That's the fucking ballgame. Like this is one of those things where like MMA fans lecturing boxing about how boxing should work.

48:1899% of the time and I can throw media in there too. Chuckle fucks like me 99% of the time we're telling boxing the way that it should be because we just like things that MMA better. They're right to ignore us. But one of the things that they really fucked up was was incescent warning from people in MMA being like this is a thing you should care way fucking more about. And you know, I'll say this to like boxing's willingness to denigrate itself. I think did him no favors. You know, you always hear all boxing's this mess. It's this that it's a it's a friction. There's so much friction in the way that it works and there's so much bureaucracy in the way that it works. And it course there are so many times you've been frustrated about it. But it's very, very bizarre to me to have spent 20 fucking years covering MMA and then see MMA fighters doing everything possible to operate under boxing legislation when given the opportunity, including taking vicious chaos for the kinds of bounty that it provides.

49:19And then to go over to boxing being like all this. This is so fucked up. I don't think people in boxing ever really appreciated what boxing actually offered them. I mean that with great sincerity. They didn't appreciate it. And now they're going to probably lose it and they have no one to blame. The point was to defeat the UBO. Because once you allow that it's fucking game over. Bonjour compadre. It's the how do I negotiate so many great travel deals my greatest gadget. The price line app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals and a bundle deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than price line. Hold your horses. There's more the app that you filter hotels by neighborhood vibe star level and amenities like pools and spas and beach fronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting the ice line. This episode is brought to you by TicTac. Lay something get your game on because the TicTac lineup just got a new teammate.

50:20Dr. Pepper TicTac. This new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mince. And when two iconic flavors come together, the result can only be iconic. Score big. Try Dr. Pepper TicTac today. Hey, Luke, what's your early thoughts and I haven't thought much about it early thoughts and predictions for pico versus Allen next month. I'm a bit conflicted because I know pico is clearly chiny but outside of blitzing a weight drain Dan Hooker. He hasn't really shown much in the way of chaos. Oh, you mean Arnold. But then again, neither did LaRone before icing pico in his debut. So I go back and forth. Well, pico was bearing down on him. So it's hard to say exactly if someone else would do that. I haven't thought much about it. I think it's actually an interesting match up for pico because Arnold's threat is not that he is necessarily a knockout machine. Although I think he's got very good boxing.

51:27It's that he so like so you don't have to I mean, I'm not saying that Arnold can't sleep pico. I think he could. But that's not like the most pressing threat from pico. The bigger one is making him, you know, letting letting a guy a skillful and experiences that sort of set the offensive rhythm and tone. I think pico if he's able to wrestle could really do himself some favors or mix up the offense at a bare minimum because just purely striking it out with Arnold while not a like massive KO threat certainly still is one and just generally is very competent on his feet. So to me, it's a test of like pico's not just fight IQ but like actual physical capacity to to have a very mixed varied game. But I have to do some tape study. I've not done any yet on that one. Look, I know you despise any questions about John but hoping you're humor this one nonetheless if Hoke it were to get the next fight against gone and win and John were was to come then come out of retirement say early 2027.

52:37How would you like his chances versus Hoke it I wouldn't. And what a win versus him have you respect his heavyweight campaign. I mean, yeah, suppose if he did. Or does he specifically have to beat Tom in order for you to be considered a respected heavyweight in your eyes. He has to I mean, he beat gone pretty quickly. I think that's a pretty good one although gone makes horrible decisions grappling. And then the Miochich one. I don't think means jack shit. I truly think it means less than nothing. It means absolutely zero. Yeah, if you beat Hoke it that would be you know you're asking me, oh, if he beats a credible heavyweight would that make his heavyweight run more credible. Sure. Sure. But at the same time it's like that also would mean he just ducked once again the challenge is that he didn't want to face or otherwise had concerns about. So you know on the one hand it would be both a proving ground on the other hand an admission of selective matchmaking so to speak.

53:44If Ilya loses his next fight regardless of its what. If Ilya loses his next fight regardless of whether it is versus Justin or patty. I think he goes back to 45. Probably not know. I think he really thinks that the he does his best work at 55 and I suspect that. Also like you know he beat well I mean max came up but he beat Volk Volk still champ. There's bigger fish bigger there's bigger game at 55. It's a big it's a bit of a it's there's bigger game there. Not literally bigger game but like stature. It's bigger game. Although Commodore was old and past it would you give him a chance in a fight versus Yaris lobby. I'm a soft no. No. I would pick amiss off every I mean prime Commodore that's different but now no.

54:46I understand the reason there are ads on the videos and audio but is there a way to have them start during breaks in the conversation. Often it feels like they come in the middle of a thought I don't know I don't I'm not it depends on your mean what you mean. I'm not I don't do the ads here. That's done by somebody else. So I don't I don't know they're talking about the audio platforms that one spotify automatically generates I try to minimize the number of them. But they I suppose I the answer. Well actually I don't know. I know you can do it at the beginning and the end and then it auto populate in the middle I try to get rid of those as much as I can. I'm not sure. I'm kind of new with that. So I was asking about the gloves again we kind of been over this. Do you think that with both MVP PFL and key MMA we will start to see fighters actually test free agency. I think there are many fighters in UFC who would make more money and have more success outside of UFC guys are going to say this one more time they will test free agency if the UFC wants them to test free agency.

55:53There will be some other ones that sneak through but for the ones that really matter the UFC is basically not going to let them test free agency. It's why all the verisigning an eight fight deal and Poetana signing an a million fight deal not for money but like a million fights and so forth like they have tolling provisions they have ways to extend the contract. But beyond that if they want to keep a guy they'll throw a bunch of money for a contract if they need to write to kind of keep them from going onto the open market. I suspect they did something like that with Derek Lewis circa Francis going to PFL or you know something like that. They're you know they're going to test free agency they're going to the UFC they're going to test free agency only if the UFC wants them to. That's it. This is not like. You know there's going to be this grand period of collaboration. No there's not. I hear fighters talk about how much certain strikes hurt in the cage but fighters ever told you how a strike just doesn't hurt at all.

56:56Yeah and this is you know I've had some experience with this but like I've seen people who got viciously KO'd and they're like I didn't like not only did they you know they didn't feel anything. They like they woke up nothing really hurt they don't remember the shot itself like they just kind of woke up or where they came to or whatever in a different place but they were not in any kind of physical pain. But like you know I've seen some guys who are tougher than others or had more pain tolerance than others or something like that but everything hurts. Can you give a technical strategy based answer as to why Holloway had a relatively easy time with Gachi and Ilya had such a hard time I'd have to go back and look at the tape not off memory I could do it but not off memory. Oh Brandon dormant is the guy who had the breakdown of the Gachi glove situation again I think there are some interesting ideas in there but whether there is conclusive proof to me I certainly didn't I didn't see anything like that.

57:57Favorite all time video games I don't have many brothers the only one that I really care about cared about as a during my time playing him was says before mortal combat but in particular mortal combat too. What the fuck oh here we go. Look in my opinion it's getting out of hand how inactive fighters are this year Josh van and Volcar set to be the only two championship fighters not counting interrupts to fight twice in 2026 and looking at the top five in the rankings only 50% of them are scheduled to fight twice. Obviously the underlying main causes the monopoly and TKO's lack of care to put out a top to your product slash paid fighters to fight. It's not the only one but what percentage of the land do you think is the fighters setting not to take many risks as they used to versus the UFC simply not wanting to put higher paid fighters on as many cards lower cost also remember they're heavyweight fight their heavyweight champion has been messed up and their 135 champion has been messed up so that you know some of this would be some of this would be better.

59:10Ask yourself a question which is if TKO wanted more title fights annually could they do it right do they have the money to incentivize it do they have the calendar to make it a possible do they have the fighters willing to do that could they do it. Now they might have reasons to not want to do it again there's going to be situations like aspenal or Harrison they're going to just you know not be available for you or whatever but as a general rule could they do you think they could do it if they wanted to. I struggle to imagine a world where that's not true. How do you feel about the internet's MMA rage bait troll MMA Joey see oh MMA Joey I noticed you didn't interview with him do you regret it after seeing how much of a running joke he is in the MMA community no.

1:00:10Why would I. I don't know what y'all are reacting to obviously I don't agree with his aspenal takes at all but you know there's other takes I think I do agree with but like as a general rule you know what he doesn't do he doesn't get out there and insult Jews he doesn't engage in Islamophobia he doesn't engage in homophobia he doesn't engage in you know just being a rancid. Piece of shit and I've seen that the online community not all of them of course but enough of them will absolutely get behind the takes the outward takes of people who do that so like in their takes is some version of that some version of you know Islamophobia some version of just shitting on the Jews or shitting on women or who you know who you name it just being a totally rancid piece of shit and I'm supposed to take all of those takes as like oh these are going to be.

1:01:11And these are awesome and these are lawatory and then be worried because MMA Joe he's got takes that you know oh he's trying to stir things up who could give a shit who could possibly give a shit in a world that celebrates the latter. I'm going to say I apologize who could care who could possibly give a fuck I'm an adult male like I if I can get to someone's takes and they're not being racist pieces of shit this is automatically going to make them superior to the ones who are doing that so when I see that there's lots of rage at those people when I see that there are lots of push back against those people yeah we can go through Joey's takes and see which ones are great and see which one is the most important thing. And then we can have comments about it but until that time I don't who could possibly give a fuck.

1:02:13Okay here's one look I have a personal story I like to share with you in your audience related to Tom Aspenal and I pokes an MMA about three years ago my dog who was a boxer boxed at me in the left eye with her paw when I wasn't paying attention and it tore the fuck out of my eye that just sound. So bad pain like you just can't explain I bet it was awful I had to go the eye doctor that day and it was so bad it was one of them things where they went to get a second doctor like you got to see this shit they treated me it took about a month or more to regain proper vision and be paying free and the following time the scar tissue in my eyes has torn open three to four times when I wake up in the mornings if my eyes get too dry and I'm almost back to square one when it happens I have to spend several hours in a dark room as I can. And just use medical I drops to relieve the issue my current status is the eye doctor has me keep my eyes lubed with a product called sustain. Sorry I'm at the left there's a I'll leave it alone to hopefully keep it from ripping back open but it's the constant thing I have to worry about and deal with and it sucks so this person writes fuck the U.S. he says for not fixing the glove issue fuck the refs for not taking points for iPokes and.

1:03:29And this person says F the fans to that blew the fighter receiving the foul did I injuries give me the he be fucking G.B.s. I don't I that's why I wear glasses like oh you want context I'm like I don't want anything going on my eyeball other than air you know. We'll do one more of these and then we'll switch over. See anyone's got a bunch of votes up. If Ty wins on Saturday is safe to say we can look forward to tie versus gone to for the belt I might die if they do that I might die. I saw you posted a clip of you interviewing John McCain you often joke that your family doesn't care about your job were they impressed by that by that I don't think they ever saw it. I've seen it I that be news to me. And I don't I don't send them stuff you know I'm not like some kind of protest or something I just don't send them stuff and sometimes they find it like I said before like the funny part about is like my political stuff they all seem to care about.

1:04:38Or just you know pretty sick relative to them and they stuff way more but no I don't think so. Let's see. Do you think aspenal has a legal case against the UFC know you said on MK there is already pretty clear evidence to curve finger gloves reduce I folks yes the association rings out physicians looked into this and there is statistical evidence that demonstrates there's a positive correlation between a clerk curved glove design and a reduction in I injuries through the about itself. So you see continue to choose the more dangerous glove could this be classified as negligence on the UFC sport I seriously doubt it I bet there's going to be all kinds of indemnification rules related to this no I'd be very very surprised if that's true. I'm just going to find one's got a bunch of things. I'll kind of warns. Look is there a hard limit on the MK shows that you can't exceed I've noticed that sometimes you'll very abruptly move on to another topic and it disrupts the flow of the show for example Chuck finishes a long and thoughtful taking a specific topic and you don't even acknowledge it before going with that in mind and moving on I know you're not trying to be rude but it does make me feel bad for the co host I'm getting him letting him get the last word but yeah we have a clock.

1:05:59I mean you can play loosely with the clock but there's a clock you know what I mean like I kind of know where we're supposed to be in the conversation by 11 30 11 45 12 12 15 12 30 12 45 like you have to follow a clock so it's unfortunate but it's not intentional I mean I do Chuck's on the show for a fucking reason but and I'm giving him the last word rather than me get the low here's my reaction to it and then we go to the next question I actually feel like it's a sign of respect personally I realize that sometimes it can be jarring in the way that it flows in conversation but the in the end of the day. Conversation but the intention is to actually let Chuck have the final word on any kind of given point you know all right. Let's go to the paid portion. If you'd be so kind as to leave a donation into the super chat they go a long way and if you don't want to you just want to hang out that's cool too but at least subscribe. Share this video, tell a friend, tell a soul, be cool about it yeah. All right.

1:07:01Let's go up. This episode is brought to you by TickTack. Lay sub and get your game on because the TickTack lineup just got a new teammate. Dr. Pepper TickTack. This new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mince and when two iconic flavors come together the result can only be iconic. Score big try Dr. Pepper TickTack today.

1:08:03All right let's see here. Okay I don't know what the fuck that name is but I appreciate the donation. How pathetic is Portnoy free speech by ass yeah I mean Dave was Dave was out there yesterday trying to argue that he agreed with what Robert Kraft did with Macklemore. By the way is it Macklemore or Mack Lomore I never fucking know based on where people say I'm gonna say Macklemore. He basically was like yeah I agree that Robert Kraft you know it's his house he can do what he wants well first of all that motherfucker took 72 million public funds a degree to which it is his house is somewhat questionable but even if that's the case that's really also not the point the point is that he didn't say hey you can't do it at my facility the point was that they colluded billionaires to deny someone the ability to be able to say something like that and then to argue it is good that billionaires can collude together to prevent people from hearing either Israeli criticism or even just frankly Palestinian humanity being expressed and you think that's a good thing you know this is comical on its face how can anyone take such a thing seriously yeah I think it's a good idea for billionaires to be able to collude to police speech.

1:09:12The fuck are you talking about and I made this point before my political channel like understand something remember it's a billionaire Epstein class attempt here like there's no grassroots movement demanding that the owners do this right like there's not people boycotting the concert I'm talking about because of what Macklemore said. Oh well then ticket sales dropped and there were protests you know there was pro Israel protests at these events and blah blah like none of that shit was happening they weren't responding to market pressure they were saying we as elites in society are going to use our significant leverage in a collusion scheme to deny these kinds of viewpoints to be expressed in very public ways you know again with these somewhat questionable claims about like oh it's my property. I mean the lack of it's not surprising that a rich guy doesn't have any kind of class. Consciousness at all about like this surreptitious effect of what just giving license to billionaires to just dictate how our lives run to say nothing I want to say one more time and you'll know I'm right about this one of the biggest threats to civil liberties right now in this country is the Israel lobby.

1:10:26Right they will they will affect your immigration status it'll affect your ability to even get into the country it'll affect your ability to do work on college campuses it could affect well beyond that your job prospects everything. Because there is an active attempt to make people who recognize Palestinian humanity unable to be fuller contribute you know to have fuller lives basically to be able to contribute in the public. Discussions or frankly having even a public profile at all one of the greatest threats to civil liberties is the Israel lobby here never never lose sight of that and then to argue like that's a good thing. Comical on its face. Is it hyperbolic of me to think that if arman rips who fees head off he still won't get a title shot no I think if he gets it I think to it I think if arman I can't imagine you see one of him as champ I mean I think if he goes and I'm not going to do that. I think if he goes in there and really does something spectacular and the crowd is like you know really behind it and it just works you know I think I think that's all too bad.

1:11:33Look if you wanted to write your own book no and if so what would it be about nothing I'm writing something related to politics and it's take over combat is just something along those no people have I've had conversations I had I met with one guy one time who was a literary agent who wanted to do that. A literary agent who wanted me to write a on UFC and it wasn't the right book for me and so I declined. No no there's not I you know and anyway the kind of book that I would have written is being written in by kareem's it is right he's got a book coming out so just read his. Philosophy undergrad to and I honestly cannot think of a degree better suited to drive you insane today's public discourse information space etc do we need critical thinking courses in k to 12 we absolutely do I was thinking about this today because I've seen I didn't realize so someone showed me this I didn't realize how often Charlie Kirk called college a scam.

1:12:33Someone went through all of his old thumbnails like all these debating videos he had on college campuses and so many of them are like so and so proves colleges a scam scam you know this scam colleges a scam colleges a scam me while you look at the graduation rates for who's getting degrees and men versus women and women are kicking men's asses up and fucking down that bitch but I just want to point this out I was just kind of thinking about this to like. I was listening to an interview with Francis Fukuyama who is a famous political. Theorist political scientist at hotkins he wrote a famous book called the end of history and some other ones as well liberalism and discontent and anyway in the book he argues. It doesn't matter what he argues the point is is like that kind of stuff was taught to me at my I remember I double major in political science and philosophy that kind of stuff was everywhere when I was when I graduated in 2002 so 98 to 0 to is when I went to college and

1:13:34you look at all that like what you got taught then in the political science department some of that stuff endured most I mean some of it was very pressing like Robert what knows bowling alone things like that was very very pressing but a lot of it was just very much contemporary understanding. That didn't last 20 plus years later 25 years later essentially 24 years later it didn't it didn't last it didn't last and the stuff that did last was all the stuff that people laughed at because there's this like idea of college and women and men are guilty of this treating as like this commodity like a just a degree to get just a piece of paper or certification to get to get a job and I never ever connected going to college to getting a job I mean they were kind of connected in like a way that. College degree to get a job or you develop some skills that can be useful for a job but I went to college to learn to learn I wanted to learn about the world and the major that did that was the one that everyone derided I think it sort of tells a lot but was the question again do we need critical thinking courses yeah I mean I don't know if you guys have seen international testing scores at OEDC countries continue to fall like.

1:14:47The teams are getting dumber look what the fuck do you make of Ilya either cheekily or legitimately buying into the loaded gloves conspiracy if you really believe that it's a very wilder-esque post fury hard to say you know is he because at first he wasn't talking like that now he's talking real greasy is he doing it to because he wants a rematch and he's doing this to stoke the flames maybe did he not believe that before and maybe he saw this guy's video and now he's convinced could be. I think we need to hear more from arm and to kind of really I'm sorry I think we need to hear more familiar to get a better sense of that. Look without giving too much detail is BC on a term contract with parent I can't discuss BC's contract. Seems like we won't see you two together until he's a free agent. That is possible I don't know if that will happen but that is possible it is also possible I've done my last show with him ever. That is also possible I'm not saying that that is definitively true but I can't rule that out either.

1:15:56Look what is your definition of evil my read on your spiritual stance is agnostic or atheist I'm just curious because I've heard you use the term yeah I mean I don't know what the best working definition I would have is but to me. Evil would be the knowing attempt at wrongdoing knowing the costs of it and in fact leaning into it because the costs of it can be so high not for the person necessarily but to the victim something that denies their humanity in a very very naked way something that you know ravages them something that is you know you're there is a purposeful attempt to do something that is you know you're there is a purposeful attempt to do something that is not really good. But that is not really good at running roughshod over their dignity and their space amongst us as a human and as a not just not just because you mean yes killing them can be this but not even necessarily like you know other forms of using them can also be evil like you know scamming grandmas out of their social security checks and things like that like this is evil like you are praying upon their vulnerability purposefully and with significant consequences.

1:17:09So to me that is sort of a basic idea of evil. Did you watch the newest elephant graveyard video yes so any thoughts a surgical satirical masterpiece in my view the editing is next level on that I must have taken an absolutely enormous amount of time. I didn't think that there was a lot new in there for me I mean I thought that you know I because I even that clip of Rogen talking about Tracy Lords I've seen although I'm not going to defend Rogen as such on that except to say that that that sentiment he was expressing at that time when the man show was prevalent across society at that time which I know is hard to believe now but it was true back then this when was the man show like when Rogen and stand hope or on it late 90s or 2000 something like that at that time that kind of sentiment was much more prevalent I don't quite know what was wrong with me. I don't quite know what was wrong with American society at that time but that that part is you know anyway. And you know connecting him to like the sort of trying to be on in the inside and then constantly grouping at it and getting an attempt at it and how it kind of changed him over time I think all of that is stuff that other people had piece together but he kind of did it or they whoever it is they kind of did it is really new and interesting and we have like amazingly edited kind of way I mean the other thing I would take away from this is like I'm not going to do that.

1:18:25I mean the other thing I would take away from this is like you know I wonder if peak Rogan sphere repudiation has already visited us because at the end of that video he says like all these other channels that do like oh so and so rejects you know Rogan sphere you know there's just constant Rogan sphere comedian commentary channels that they're just overly focused on them and they need to do other things and I think some of them took it to heart you know. And so maybe there is like maybe that's almost like the end of it a little bit I've even seen Rogan recently on the show you know just viewing pure left wing talking points about Trump and whatnot and I to me it's all like too little too late but like you can you can kind of tell that like I think that they are like he and and the and sort of the people which he is sort of considered grouped and I think they're feeling the heat a little bit about some of their own decisions about how the changes in society have happened since 24. You know there are various roles and facilitating all of that and what they've kind the kind of lives they've me entered into by virtue of what they've actually been chasing this entire time.

1:19:36Dave what's up my friend welcome to the party unfortunately seems like Ovechkin appear I heard about this today seems like Ovechkin appeared on a commercial backing the party supporting Putin that came out this week did you see this I only saw the controversy today I saw he did a press conference. With the media in DC but I've not seen the video and I have. Again I only just heard about it today he but he's been known as like a Putin supporter I think for some time I don't really know I need to I need to learn more about this. It's a great question I don't have an answer for you I need to learn more I heard about this today. What is your best explanation or why Gable and Connors sexual misconduct is treated different in the world and Greg Hardy's domestic violence. Because Greg Hardy is I think partly the timing of things are different you know of Greg Hardy came around now would people care as much I don't think so. I you know like this whole thing about like Kanye getting out there because part of the Maclmore story was like well some of those venues that said that Maclmore can't perform there either we're going to have Kanye West or have already had him and they didn't care at all.

1:20:46And so it's a question of like well you know why would you care there in one instance and not care in the other. To me like I know the Kanye is a polygist for some of this and I realize that he obviously is very very talented music artist I would never suggest otherwise but part of like what's happened here is that like society in the United States in the last 10 to 15 year I mean longer than this but it's become quite pronounced. There's been real moral decay. There's been there's been real visible moral decay the kinds of things that were served as morally horrifying no longer elicit not really the same kind of reaction but don't even count among the kinds of things that should even elicit a reaction even in cases where they are deeply poisonous and frankly just outright dangerous there is just a tolerance of evil and a tolerance of the kinds of ingredients that ultimately create. Evil much more now than there has been in quite some time. I think that's part of it the other part of it is when he was winning you know yes again at the time he was there there was a little bit more people pushing back against this kind of stuff a lot of the fan base that you know well I'll skip that part but I'll just say.

1:21:59If he had won a bunch then honestly I think you would probably see something pretty similar Connor won a bunch and gave all you know he's just new into MMA and you know I'm not saying that his situation is equivalent to Conner's that it's it's I don't know enough about the situation but you know there could be some meaningful differences that are worth taking seriously I'm just pointing out. If he had if Greg Hardy had won a bunch like power is what is being rewarded here stature is what's being rewarded. He's always Olympic Olympic gold medalist and again I realize that he hasn't he hasn't had a lot to do in MMA but in terms of like sporting royalty he kind of already is in a sense it is stature it is stature it is power but once that starts to go everything kind of goes on. Canada in the EU bring us KS.

1:22:59Bring us KS no bring KS W here I'd be side I would love to go to a KS W show in the United States I'd be sick I mean I'd love to go to Poland too but absent the ability to go over there I'll take one here. Why is it Vladimir Klitschko viewed in higher regard probably because he got a shit rocked and you know a lot of times he was kind of. He's early on anyway he had up and down runs a little bit he was a dominant champ with 23 defenses seemed unstoppable for a long time yes but he didn't have he had a lot of performances that people didn't really gravitate towards. And they didn't inspire great confidence in fact I remember the Klitschko era was kind of fine is like the Klitschko the Klitschko is you know just kind of smothering the game that's what they kind of felt like they weren't lifting up the presumption at the time was they weren't that they were dominating it but they were suppressing it in a way. Unfortunately okay we do this one already.

1:24:01Let's see. Luke what are your thoughts on to Prairie a copenaxe it's a great word I've been doing copenaxe in the last two years and saying Justin cheated and tampered with his gloves I kind of been over this one I mean again there could be some kind of media angle to it you know like I'm just going to try and stir the pot to whatever purposes. And in MMA dude people will just accuse their opponents of all kinds of malfeasance without any evidence at all this is quite common you know this so it's probably a little column a column B. Again I've seen the latest elephant graveyard video yes dude is a perfect job excuse me the perfect breakdown who Rogan is now his relationship with Tio yes they go into that heavily I truly believe Rogan is not a good person that's certainly one conclusion one can draw from that I again having having interacted with him a little bit I'm still hesitant to say. I'm still hesitant to say as much but I think he is easily duped and I don't think he gives a lot of consideration to the motivations of people he listens to and at some point you just have to recognize that like that's his own fault and I do I do but I think that they're like it dude like this is like part of like okay.

1:25:19Part of the reason why I have withdrawn from MMA slowly you guys I'm sure of seeing this part of the reason I have withdrawn from MMA slowly over the last two years I mean there's a few different reasons and some of them are things that I felt like I needed to do something for things that were forced on me. But one of the things that like really like I can see now is that when you're inside some of these institutions and you're inside these worlds of privilege you know it cuz again in MMA man there wasn't a fighter whose name I didn't have in my role of decks there wasn't I mean I've done I mean I haven't had quite the career the aerials had but I've done everything I were pretty close to everything I've done a lot I've been very very lucky when you do that when you want to stay inside those worlds those worlds tend to define. You're a world view over time they begin like like waves crashing on the rocks they tend to smooth it out over time and your perception begins to get warped by it even ways you don't even recognize in real time it does it's not a case we like this goes against my values it may not in ways that you ever recognize and then you get out of it and you shake free and you're like holy shit I was being affected to do blah blah blah blah you know and this is true of any kind of really powerful group any kind of powerful even institution you know it can be a great thing to do.

1:26:36The ways in which you're trying to succeed within a world and have status or place within a world anytime you're doing that it will have over time if you do that long enough it will shape the way in which your world view even works to begin with and I think that that process has happened to Joe and I don't know if he's cognizant of it if he is and he just let it rock that's different but you know trying to chase these worlds and being around these kinds of people these are corrupting forces unless you put distance between you and I think that's not the right thing. I mean you're just jealous of what real good has well in a sense I would love to have his money but I don't need to have a show as big as his I wouldn't even want to have a show as big as his where people pour over every fucking word you have to say and half the people love it and half the people hate it and there's constant outrage cycles like who would want such a thing I would love to make more money yeah of course I would love to have a big audience I could rely but I don't need that and this is a point I've been driving home with content all the time like you know I made this point with you have see but let's stick to it.

1:27:36I'm going to talk to NFL everybody now is just trying to make everything they can as big as humanly possible and like elephant graveyard could keep doing. Rogan sphere videos but he chose to stop I mean he finished this one and then that's that you know that he made a point in the video like this is the last one I'm going to go do something else now I actually really admire that I really admire that to say nothing of the fact that like you know just to stick to the critique here. Allowing himself to say like we've treated this with the purpose that was required to do this job but now the job is done and I don't need to keep farming this for engagement we can just move the fuck on and I have to tell you I really really kind of appreciate it so the point I'm trying to say is like this is the thing I'm trying to explain to you guys here on this chat that withdrawal from MMA has allowed me to kind of see other parts of it in ways that I never really maybe could have.

1:28:36Or maybe to see them I should say you know a little bit more a little bit more easily but it requires kind of saying I'm not going to go all the way with trying to press into if you want to press into those worlds and you want to become parts of those worlds those you will become parts of those worlds and I think you have to have if you're going to do that kind of thing you have to have a clear sense of what the boundary should be and when it's time to call it quits and I just feel like world. Logan went tumbling down this rabbit hole where now he's got you know what we had to call Rogen JD Vance has got we got to get him on the show and these are they're endorsing Trump he's got fuck wide Elon Musk just lying through his teeth the whole time and that questioning their motives and now it's like it's affecting his judgment like it seems great I think having a smaller kind of more reserved approach to these the top is he explores and the world that he explores would do him a lot of good.

1:29:41Coffee discount money thanks do you think the UFC believes in who fee I do yes I mean Armin might be the worst matchup for him reminds me of your year versus any grappler. I'd be Armin might not be I think they believe in do they put who feel in the fucking White House car bro they do believe in him why wouldn't you he's got a kind of quiet vibe it's not serial killer it's more like ninja artist murderer and it works his style is super exciting if you can get the other parts of his game up and running do he can do big things. Obviously the BSD fight was not a great look but tomorrow Saturday will be another day so yes I absolutely if I was a promoter I would believe in him absolutely. Did you get to see the Justin video the anatomy of impact we've been asked about this one the USC White House analysis from Brendan door dormant MMA if so what do you think I kind of discussed this one earlier in the show I think he raises some interesting questions about hand rap techniques but to to surmise it I didn't see anything that I would consider conclusive proof.

1:30:43Lookito did you ever show off the handheld barbells meant for wrists don't think so I mean when I get when I get home next week I can do it also what is van have to do on Saturday to get the W Cornmucho amor porto it too familiar. Um he has to be able to not allow I think that pentoja is going to get to the back. It's going to get to the back the task is going to be once he gets the back you have to make sure that there's like a stopwatch and you need to be up and add it within a minute but preferably 30 seconds to what extent can he execute. And now you're being kept down two minutes three minutes and he's able to create back exposure and then collect it. It's going to be real tough for van to win but if van can meaningfully thwart that and now they got to do get out more I just don't see how van loses in a contest like that.

1:31:47Why do you think armin is putting neon in his corner how will the MMA guys look down on these fuck fuck games seriously going in I want an arm and to win now wouldn't be upset if who if he wins. Dude I mean he's been streaming for months dude I mean he's been off seen him with Adrian Broner I've seen him with all kinds of docs eight and Ross and you name it obviously with what's your face. My brain doesn't work. You know I know I'm talking about he's constantly with her. You know I think he's got streaming brain I really do believe that. Like he's just so he's got he's so warped by the incentives of that world that he somehow thinks this is like a good idea. Fans might not like it but I think they should do gone versus Volkov the one that gone kind of got where Volkov got robbed and Poetan versus Hoke it I think Poetan doesn't deserve the fight and Hoke it is a touch early I don't hate that idea I don't love seeing gone versus Volkov to although you know what back to the scene of the crime.

1:32:55But I think that they want an exciting heavyweight title fight that's the problem I actually like this idea of what you have here but the problem is they want something that's got a little bit of fucking sizzle to it and gone Volkov to doesn't have that Poetan Hoke it has that it's not a title fight. Look would you do how would you do matchmaking at the upper echelons of 55 right now also how far do you see Akbar Agilaya going with the top 10 he looks like a million bucks didn't he holy shit I watch the contender series the fight I missed his fight live I watched the first two fights I didn't see a single guy in the first two fights of this past weeks contender series who deserve a shot in UFC I like the kid out of Maryland he's a good wrestler but he ain't ready for the shit. I just I know is with the he's with the extreme couture again he seems like a real talented guy and I think you eventually will be very good he's not ready right now I forget who the other one was I missed this one. Um up brush on the 55 I would do I mean what's too late for this now probably but I would do Gachi versus armman.

1:33:57And then I would do patty versus Ilya and then I'd probably do. You could maybe do max versus partners I don't know if max wants that. But I mean I think those are the two fights that should be made. Bonjour compadre it's the. How do I negotiate so many great travel deals my greatest gadget the price line app it's got hotel deals flight deals rental. Card deals all of those deals in a bundle deals game day deals concert trip deals no one deals more deals than price line. Older horses there's more the app that you filter hotels by neighborhood vibe star level and amenities like pools and spa's and beach front. Wait I'm not done stop cutting the ice line. Hey Spotify listeners when you travel with American Airlines you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude before takeoff unwind in the admiral's club lounge with curated self serve offerings of hard. And then you'll enjoy the fun as well as the fun as well as the fun as well as the fun as well as the fun as well as the fun as well.

1:35:08What do you believe is time in the middle and ceiling that's a good question. I think you probably needs to watch and learn from this training partner O'Malley when it comes to defense. Okay, I do think he's got very very good cardio. He's got a lot of heart. I do think his wrestling ability can do a lot for him. As I've said before I don't he's using his wrestling like he's it's it's it's showing up in ways that matter. So I don't want to sit here and say he's not using his wrestling effectively he is. But I don't think he's using his wrestling nearly as much as he could be to make it truly effective. And then we got to clean up the defense like his career is not going to go very far. If he doesn't clean that up like yeah right now it's cool that he gets banged around and then he comes storming out and the crowd loves that shit. How long can you do that bro? Like you can't especially against the better guys they're not going to let you play those games. They're going to push back on you. They're going to have elite cardio to they're going to have any elite mindset to and they're just going to hit you over and over again.

1:36:11Like you got to clean that up. So if he doesn't clean that up I you know maybe top 15 maybe even top 10. But if he does clean it up then I think you got a much more interesting conversation. Luke there was already a question about Ovechkin saw wonder why autocrats love sports washing so much because it is effective. Guys Saudi Arabia I don't know if you notice this but Saudi Arabia is falling apart. They're getting fucked over on the street of horn moves which is not really you know their biggest concern it's more the American side. But nevertheless it's a problem and then Bob Bellman debs straight you know well there's some there's conflicting reporting over that but it appears to be close. But in any event you know the the hooties are just storming through Yemen right now and then entire red sea. Down to the Gulf of aid in the whole nine yards they're all over that motherfucker okay they bond the east west pipeline. That's 4% of the world's supply like they're fucking Saudi Arabia up right now I am very bearish on Saudi Arabia's involvement in combat sports going forward.

1:37:15I'm just very very very very bearish on them however however their efforts at getting into you know buying teams and getting into boxing and getting into the world. And golf and whatnot you know did it remake their image completely in the world and blah blah blah well maybe didn't go that far. But it certainly made the toleration of them to do business with them vastly more accessible. Like after the death of Jamal Kashoggi the the but they will put the journalists so they bone sawd you know they were they were almost like a pariah state it was bad for them and now look at them. Sports washing works now it might work in a limited way it might work better in some cases than others you know nothing's over 100% but like why do they do it because it works. It works is very effective this is what I mean about like you know this sort of moral decay that we're all kind of part of I mean sports washing is hardly new but they're I think you know I remember as a kid like apartheid South Africa like this was a thing that was debated and discussed.

1:38:17And now it's kind of like you know hey this theocratic monarchy who is kind of teetering on the edge of being a failed state you know who bone sawd a journalist we're just going to let them buy EA sports okay. I don't know how to say this but welcome to the party. Ilya is only five centimeters taller than James Cagney. All right. LT if your nephew wanted to be a MMA fighter which fighter would you model his style after DJ said Charles Oliver for his son saying he's the most well-rounded first of all if any one of my family wanted to do it I would talk them out of it immediately can you imagine how bad of an idea that is. Unless your George St. Pierre some shit why would you ever do MMA. I cannot imagine so it's a terrible idea for your health long term probably aren't going to make any money you know you have very few rights in the industry like. What the fuck are we doing terrible idea but I would do something probably like.

1:39:18Yeah something where you can control the wrestling because that reduces I think the overall amount of damage you'd have to take. Would you say where would you say Carlos projects ranks in terms of all time biggest punctures in the World War division he's right up there he's right up there. I mean I don't know if he's better than Lollar I'd have to think about that a little bit more but he's right up there he isn't he I'll say this very matter of factly Carlos projects. Is one of the all time punctures at Walter wait that's a fact whether you want to put him one or not or something like that there's been some big punches at 70 to be fair he's one of the best ones all time matter of factly. They know what contender series Akbar's 19 second KO 13 finishes all but one KOs he the next big deal he's a beast. Meanwhile Lewis Luis Hernandez I call one of his fights at for XFC balancing full time policing with taking brain damage this isn't going to end well right. This is what I mean that other fight his to he fought that French guy again you all I think his name again you don't forget the how it went.

1:40:19Like obviously Hernandez fights with a ton of vigor I call one of his fights like he gets after it you really have to appreciate that as you indicated he's got a full time job. You know there's a lot of respect you can have for someone who's putting in those kinds of efforts but like I mentioned this all the time dude once you see it you can't unsee it like he would he and that French you were doing what I call jousting where they might be moving a little bit but they're not fainting at all they're just kind of clashing into each other right they're just jousting. And anytime you see someone just trying joust and joust and joust and they're getting tired and they're jousting and they're jousting and it's just kind of back and forth chaotic joust just like dude this is not going to work against somebody good like this is not going to work you can't keep doing this shit you know. You have to have setups you have to think through things you have to you have to set set your shot look at look at look at what's his face. I'm going to go to the body to the body and then he fakes low and he comes over with the top and fucking rang that dude's bell that's what I'm talking about that shit right and look at the difference that that guy is the kind of one that I'm impressed by so like I can I can appreciate hustle I can appreciate the fact that you know he got the job done he gutted it out like clearly the guy's got a lot of heart but if you're just jousting into one another you have my opinion.

1:41:43The tape is pretty clear you've got limited upside unless you can fix that I'm saying. Look love the content keep it the great work did you see Michael Walsh's video addressing you know I don't even know who Michael Walsh is. I'm that's not the diss maybe it's a good video maybe it's a bad video but I know I'm not seeing it. To Poria walled garden has been breached copes and say yeah again it could be strategic like kind of poke the bear poke the bear poke the bear we'll see. Look if Van wins convincingly do you think it shows it wasn't a fluke with pantoja sure if he wins convincingly of course one of the best take the opportunities moments we've seen yes dude I mean if you go in there and you just like solidly beat the guy. That's that says that says real as it gets that says real as it gets. Were you aware that you see fighters that fight on apex cards don't have to pay taxes in Nevada I was not is that also one of the reasons why you see likes to host events in the apex perhaps makes the makes the paychecks go further I guess I'm not I've never heard that.

1:42:55Is that true. If that is true I mean that certainly is a boom to the fighters but I'm not sure exactly what the mechanism that is. Reminds of zuck in valks corner against Ilya yeah but valks still had you know enough other good names that was that was a little more ceremonial not now if arm and does something like that then I guess it's no big deal you know. Am I the only one who thinks it's very obvious that Ilya is joking or not being serious about the Justin glove thing it's just sharp so it's just sarcasm shit talk. Again I absolutely think that that is a reasonable interpretation we just kind of need to see how this goes and also could just be all he's even if they make the rematch he'll still do it still do it and then the fight is over being like you know I actually never cared about this I just wanted to get the fight like all of those things are very possible to do. You know look I'm not excited about USC number of events much anymore I would be more excited about paying 50 bucks to see you debate Steve Turley I again you have to forgive me I do not know who Steve Turley is I he could be a phenomenal debater but I'd be lying if I just said I know who some of these guys are.

1:44:05Doesn't hope its success look bad for heavyweight no guy was a deep well yes and no guy was a decent college athlete 220 pound running back. At Fresno State He also was a college wrestler too and a pretty good one so no it's actually not that surprising. Guy who wrestled division one at heavyweight is able or he he didn't wrestle heavyweight division one. weight division one, but now is heavyweight having previously wrestled division one is able to like run through the heavyweight division. No, that actually makes a lot of sense. Would a Muay Thai specialist with good grappling skills be a UFC champion one day? They already have been what he called trawls all the Vera. Well, not a Muay Thai specialist, but you know, I know TD Angel Kowani is older, so there's another young fighter you see. And Chikawani up to me is also like a good fighter, but not probably championship material. Muay Thai what was the way you described it Muay Thai specialist good grappling Muay Thai specialist with good grappling.

1:45:05Again, all of Vera is I know he's not a Muay Thai specialist with good grappling. It's not quite the framing, but he's got really good Muay Thai and he's got really good grappling. That seems to me like the like the apex archetype. I don't know if I can offhand think of someone who's like a Muay Thai specialist with good grappling that in the modern sense. I'm not sure who that would be. Luke, every event Dana starts the post fight presser with the record breaking gates. Doubt this is adjusted for inflation. Do they've been doing good gates like that's not he's not lying about that. Like they're doing good numbers. I mean, this is the interesting part about the UFC business. I said before like to me, the number of events, you know, take them or leave them. The fight nights are the thing to me that they've done the best. Generally speaking, and they did four plus million for that note, a card, which had like a replacement main event that of questionable significance like it's fucking crazy. The kind of gate numbers are doing.

1:46:05The key MMA looks like vanity project for coca after that presser. I don't see how taking old things with no name fighters will succeed. Well, they plan to build some names. And I think that they probably will. And again, as I mentioned, having the old guys on stage. Sort of shows that like, hey, I've got a long history of, you know, finding big names and I've still got a great relationship with them. Look, they're all here. So you can trust that this can be a fighter friendly organization. There's a method to it. There's a method to it. But I think the counter to that, as I mentioned, is that that having those old guys up there from like my generation is important for the reasons aforementioned. But like what does that do for the current modern MMA fan. MMA fans who are there who haven't had their impression of what MMA is affected by by UFC and their dominance. Like, of course, they all have right. I mean, I would just be natural. You know, again, they're making a bet on I think a little nostalgia and we'll see if that works.

1:47:09There's Ilya need to make technical improvements. My biggest question is does he improve his jab defense. It's been a consistent weapon against them jab defenses one. If you guys have probably heard that, you know, they followed the footwork and that there's sort of this linear paths that he constantly takes, that they're able to time both on entries and exits. Yeah. I mean, if you get beat up like he got beat up, how could you look at that and be like, there's nothing to clean up here. This is why they say losses are almost better than wins. I mean, they're not obviously it's not better than a win. But insofar as kind of just laying bare at a moment in time, quite painfully in certain cases. I mean, I think that's the thing that has gone wrong because you're not up to par on where you need to again, it wasn't like, oh, it was an Aaron fucking spinning back. This the guy wasn't even looking and he got hit with it. This was round after I mean, and I know obviously Ilya had some good moments to drop them with the body shots. Okay, I wasn't not saying it was a. It was nothing but Gachi beat his ass, but it was several rounds of Gachi beating his ass. It wasn't like a one hit or quitter accident low percentage kind of thing was pretty thorough.

1:48:14And so for that reason, you would have to look at that if you're on his team and be like, we have to clean this up. I'm so high right now. Hey, that's cool. I wish I was you. Van body shot TKO. That'd be sick. Let's keep that to Nat putting down the second best flyweight of all time with the body shot at age 24. James welcome to the party thoughts on a new elephant graveyard. We kind of did this one earlier in the show. I appreciate the donation, but yeah, I mean, everything that guy or whoever it is, everything they do is high quality, but I'm glad they're moving on to other things too, you know. I know you said you're not much of a gamer, but will you be getting GTA 6? I've never played GTA ever. It's going to be quite the culture phenomenon. And if so, would you live stream while playing? I would play it. I would play it. Yeah, live stream while playing it. Yeah, I play it. I'll try it, but I've never played it before. James welcome to the party again.

1:49:14Okay, I don't know what the fuck this is. If Coker really wants an astrology, he should be forced to give forced to give us a the last dragon remake or surf ninjas to raise additional money for key. That's funny, but hey, I'll tell her reached out about editing for your political channel hit back last month, but didn't hear back. We have found a person. So I appreciate the donation and I appreciate appreciate you reaching out, but we found a guy that we have been pretty happy with so far. But if that changes or we decide to expand, we will definitely put out a call for more editors. But thank you for your interest. I really appreciate it. You saying we've gone through moral decay, a spot on, I've been brewing for years, but I believe the 24 election putting Trump back in was a breaking point. Yeah, I'll get to this on our on the political life chat tomorrow. We don't have to get into it too far here, but there's just no way to understand. I mean, he didn't start it. But there is no way to say that the moral rot that has been kind of sitting there didn't get catalyzed by his ascension in politics, and that in fact his ascension in politics was both a catalyzing force itself and then also put into motion by other existing forces that were already there.

1:50:27It seems plausible that the JRE has been influenced by foreign and domestic intelligence services. Yeah, dude, can you imagine being a foreign and or domestic intelligence service and then having access to someone who has a very large audience that people put a lot of faith and trust and credibility into and appreciation into. And then the host is just largely accepting of what you tell him. I mean, I could scarcely think of a better thing for them. Bob L. Mandab means door of regret in Arabic holy shit. Now the only way to get oil to Europe is to go around the Cape of good hope. Appropriate names. Yeah, fucking hell. Poetan and Ilya both made cheating allegations tells me they haven't processed the loss in a thoughtful way. They will never wear UFC gold again. That is one interpretation that I don't think is crazy. I don't know if I'm ready to agree with it, but I don't think that's necessarily crazy like two guys who lost badly immediately groping for oh, we got done wrong.

1:51:37You know, we got cheated on we got we got this should have been ours yet like that is definitely a fair interpretation that maybe they have not processed the loss the way that they should have. Well, I look approaching member for 36 months of this channel hoping to see a one or two of three year badges. Yes, we got to get that going insert that meme from Narcos of Pablo Escobar waiting also Kermit in the rain waiting. Yeah, I will get some stuff going for you. Don't worry. Look out of the golden era who had the best hands Chuck rampage Vitor or Hendo. My vote is Quentin pretty easily curious what you think was the king of the era when it came to pure pure boxing pure boxing not Chuck Chuck had big power rampage had big power of a better boxing Vitor had probably faster hands and it will definitely have faster hands and anybody else. And I think probably was a little bit more capable as a full on kickboxer. And then Hendo was just kind of like you know wing in the big shots. So it's probably rampage one pure boxing Vitor to you could put Vitor one rampage and Vitor kind of one to then Chuck them Hendo.

1:52:44Did you see the vice show on Phil Barone I saw the thumbnail I didn't click it should be mandatory viewing for fighters as a cautionary tale. Yeah, I knew Phil a little bit. I know he struck me as more mellowed out when he got older but then he also it was weird like he got more mellowed out and then he descended back into anger and I don't know. He got it's things got darker around him and and then eventually you saw you know what happened as a result but it was weird like he didn't come out exactly from fighting that way. He just kind of trended that way and we're all poor for it and obviously there's a horrible tragedy of a person dead as a consequence. No surprise he was friends with John Copenhagen or War Machine for a time anyway. How about that. All right, thank you guys so much for watching I really appreciate it. No Mk tomorrow but there'll be more programming on sub stack as well as on the political channel so stay tuned for that.

1:53:51We'll have a live watch along on on Saturday as well as a post fight show Sunday depending on when I'm able to get done tomorrow. We might have a rewatch on my sub stack which by the way let me let me make sure you guys have access to that. Let's see here. If you want some of the sub stack you can go there. We'll have either will either do a preview tomorrow or rewatch on Sunday depending on the time and yeah thank you guys so much for watching I really appreciate it. Thank you to all the members. Thank you to everybody who donated your best I'll see you all on Saturday night and until then stay frosty bitches. Bye. Bye.

1:54:57Bye.