The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

Bad news, CME Universe, with just a few days to go before UFC 205, Ben and Chad probably just jinxed the whole thing by recording this episode of the Co-Main Event Podcast. See, the trouble is that this is a very thorough discussion. On this week’s show, your dudes break down each of the event’s three title fights, including Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez, Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson and...

Feeling refreshed, CME Universe? After a three-week break from UFC events we hope you are bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to dive headfirst into the end of the year push. Ben and Chad certainly are, as they tee-up a very spooky Halloween episode of the Co-Main Event Podcast. For starters, there is the Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson main event at this Saturday’s live finale of The Ultimate...

Never thought Ben and Chad would do a largely juice-box themed episode of the Co-Main Event Podcast, but that’s the situation after Tito Ortiz made good use of props during his live “debate” with Chael Sonnen during last weekend’s Bellator event. In slightly more sobering news, last week also brought some fairly significant layoffs at the UFC front office, which raised interesting questions about...

And here we thought it was going to be a slow week. Turns out, the MMA news cycle really does never stop churning out its wonderful goodness. As a result, this week’s Co-Main Event Podcast is chock full of not only Name Brand News but also happenings Ben and Chad feel will be extremely relevant to your interests. For starters, Ronda Jean Rousey is back and set for a title bout against new women’s...

What to even make of Michael Bisping at this point, Universe? That’s one of the questions that weighs heavy on the mind of Co-Main Event Podcast. After watching Bisping retain his middleweight title and become the Octagon’s all-time wins leader on Saturday at UFC 204, Ben and Chad have a hard time getting their arms around just how history should remember the swaggering Brit. The same could be sai...

Nothing like watching a couple of 135-pound dudes try to rearrange each other’s faces for 25 minutes to get you primed for another week of talking about mixed rules fighting, right, Universe? Oh, yeah, and by “135-pound dudes” we mean 135-pound-ish, since by now you all know that John Lineker showed up overweight for his main event bout against John Dodson at UFC Fight Night 96. This makes five ti...

A couple days after watching Cyborg Justino do Cyborg Justino stuff to Lina Lansberg, the Co-Main Event Podcast still has questions. Did Cyborg really make weight? What’s the endgame here? Is Lansberg OK? On this week’s episode, Ben and Chad take on those topics and more. You didn’t think they were going to let Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett dominate the news cycle at Rizin FC and not talk about th...

It’s like, one night you go to bed secure and comfortable, everything normal and when you wake up—zounds!—the world’s gone crazy. Of course, we mean Chael Sonnen signing with Bellator MMA, right CME Universe? Now that was some left-field style shit, right there. Your boys Ben and Chad did not see that one coming, and so at least part of this week’s Co-Main Event Podcast is spent discussing how it...

Well, CME Universe, we saw it. CM Punk totally fought in the Octagon at UFC 203. And it was a thing that absolutely happened. And you know what? Ben and Chad understand if you’re not sure exactly what to make of it. Frankly, that’s what the Co-Main Event Podcast is here for. Let the professionals break down the subtleties of Punk’s game for you. Nah, jokes, as everybody on the planet could see, he...

The Co-Main Event Podcast gets primed for UFC 203 this week, as Ben and Chad discuss Stipe Miocic’s pending heavyweight title fight against Alistair Overeem. The way they figure it, you take hometown hero Miocic and have him defend his belt for the first time in a city with a sports tradition as proud as the one in Cleveland, Ohio and there’s just NO WAY that turns out to be a heartbreaker. Speaki...

What’s up, Universe? Did y’all see Paige VanZant go upside Bec Rawlings’ head with that kick this past weekend on UFC on Fox 21? If you did, Ben and Chad expect you know some of what’s coming on this week’s CME. If you didn’t? Well, let your guys pull your coat to what happened. Or maybe you should run out and watch the fight card itself real quick first, since it’s totally worth it also to see wh...

Well, CME Universe, they done did it. Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz did the damn thing at UFC 202. We saw it--some of us--and we saw that it was good. This week, the Co-Main Event Podcast spends the lion's share of its time talking about what the fight means for both guys. McGregor, obviously, answered a lot of questions about his fitness as the UFC's biggest male star. Meanwhile, Diaz proved that...

Batten down the hatches, CME Universe. This week gives us the spectacle that will be UFC 202 and then every weekend after that will be full up with action in the Octagon until like mid-October. Consider this your last chance to take that big breath and hold it. Will be a while before we can come up for air again. On this episode, Ben and Chad start at the beginning, with discussion of Conor McGreg...

Well, Universe, if you sat through the interminable six-fight main card of UFC Fight Night 92 on Saturday night and you’re still hungering for more MMA talk/action, the Co-Main Event Podcast salutes you. If you are checking out this episode, however, Ben and Chad have a few ideas as to why that might be: Yair Rodriguez! Teruto Ishihara! Conor McGregor vs. WWE! Yeah, all those things/dudes happened...

Another week, another new champion in the UFC. For episode No. 216, the Co-Main Event Podcast unexpectedly finds itself penning a eulogy for the title reign of Robbie Lawler, who got himself KOed by Tyron Woodley in 2 minutes, 12 seconds last weekend at UFC 201. In addition to that, the guys discuss Ben’s trip to Washington last weekend to watch WSOF and the weird brother vs. brother matchup betwe...

This week the Co-Main Event Podcast picks up the shattered pieces of what was once the UFC women’s bantamweight division and tries to put them all back together in a way that seems somehow appealing. It’s a tough assignment. In addition to reflecting on Holly Holm’s stunning loss to Valentina Shevchenko last Saturday at UFC on Fox 20, Ben and Chad look ahead to Robbie Lawler’s UFC 201 welterweight...

The MMA scene slumps back to normal this week, after a gala UFC 200 celebration that saw the fight company stage three events on consecutive days. What does “normal” mean exactly? Well, you know, just the usual stuff: The UFC put on just one live event this week (its fourth in, like, seven days) and then a human man got the front of his forehead crushed in by the knee of another human man. Everybo...

This is part 2 of CME episode 213, where the guys discuss the happenings of UFC 200 and the late-breaking sale of the UFC to WME-IMG. Did you listen to part 1 first? No? You better get on that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s see, where to even start? Well, UFC 200 happened, mmmkay? It took three days, there were a boatload of fights and a bunch of noteworthy stuff happened. But even before that there was Wednesday evening, when news broke that Jon Jones had been flagged by USADA for a “potential anti-doping violation” and pulled from his fight with Daniel Cormier. Wasn’t that some shit? Long story short, Cormier...

How to even make sense of this monster UFC 200 fight week, CME Universe? The Co-Main Event Podcast split the damn thing over two episodes and it still feels too big to even deal with. This week, Ben and Chad pretty much offer up wall-to-wall UFC 200 talk from start to finish and some stones are still left regrettably undisturbed. At least the largest, heaviest dagger-chest-tattooed stones get a th...

The Co-Main Event Podcast basically clears its schedule this week to begin a two-episode dive into the UFC 200 mega-card. With the much-ballyhooed lineup for the July 9 extravaganza set, Ben and Chad start off by taking a wide-angle look at how the thing actually came together before closing in on the UFC 200 week’s championship aperitifs--featuring Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha and Rafae...

The UFC appeared headed for new ownership late Monday, just as the Co-Main Event Podcast sat to record this week’s episode. Naturally, reports that Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta would be loading up their saddlebags with multiple billions of dollars and riding off into the sunset piqued Ben’s and Chad’s ears. So, in case you’re wondering, yeah, they talk about that potential sale a little bit on the C...

The Co-Main Event Podcast gets back to business this week--if indeed business ever slowed down--with a return to its usual format. The death of Kimbo Slice still looms large over the MMA world, as does the return of Brock Lesnar to face off with Mark Hunt at UFC 200. Ben and Chad discuss both those topics and also look ahead to this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 89, where Steven The Wonderman Thompson...

For about 15 minutes on Saturday night the CME Podcast was fired up to do a show all about how unexpectedly awesome UFC 199 was. From Michael Bisping’s upset victory over Luke Rockhold to Dominick Cruz slamming the door on his rivalry with Urijah Faber to the sudden return of Brock Lesnar, it was all pretty (refreshingly?) great. But then the UFC went and banned Ariel Helwani, Esther Lin and E. Ca...

The Co-Main Event Podcast shows up for this memorial day episode feeling a little shaky and touch hungover, but it showed up nonetheless. Ben and Chad just aren’t going to leave you hanging, you know? Besides, there is plenty to discuss. From Cody Garbrandt’s easy-as-pie starching of Thomas Almeida on Sunday at UFC Fight Night 88 to Renan Barao’s unsuccessful return to featherweight, it’s all in h...