The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

The Co-Main Event Podcast gets back on its normal schedule this week. With everyone present and accounted for, Ben and Chad turn their attention to the latest happenings in MMA, both confirmed and otherwise. There is plenty of live action to get to, including Carla Esparza’s championship performance at the TUF 20 finale, Nate Diaz’s disappointing turn against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on Fox 13 and...

With Ben’s lengthy business chasing down hashtag lifestyle pieces in Las Vegas finally concluded, he and Chad get back on the wild, bucking horse that is the Co-Main Event Podcast on Friday. Better late than never, right, you roughnecks? Even with Ben safely ensconced back in the one true time zone, the show finds itself in an unusual position, with 10 not-so-slow days of MMA news to catch up on....

After a week off to nurse their Thanksgiving food hangovers and Thanksgiving hangover hangovers, Ben and Chad return with a new Co-Main Event Podcast, and not a moment too soon. See, gentle listener, UFC 181 and its twin bill of title fights looms on Saturday night. How you gonna know what to expect/who to root for/what to think if the CME doesn’t swoop in to hand out them ass-whippings to their m...

Ben and Chad delayed the recording of this week’s CME by some 25 minutes, hoping to be able to hear the UFC’s big #TheTimeIsNow announcement, so they could discuss it as BREAKING NEWS during the intro to the show. But, as it turned out, the time was not now. The time will be somewhat later. In the future. That’s when the time will happen. That’s right, the UFC punted on its own big announcement to...

No time to mince words for the Co-Main Event Podcast this week, what with the MMA schedule more jam-ass-packed than even is normal. Is normal. Ben and Chad have, frankly, too much on their communal CME plate, but do their best to cram as much into their hour and change as possible. From Luke Rockhold and Ovince St. Preux scoring big UFC victories over the weekend, to Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum...

The Co-Main Event Podcast records another Tuesday morning episode this week, as Ben’s tenure as a juror in a local trail plays havoc with the schedule. He joined Chad for coffee and fight talk as soon as he was able, and there was no shortage of stuff to discuss. Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping’s Friday-night UFC main event took center stage, but the guys manage to squeeze in some speculation ab...

What’s that chill you feel in the air, gentle listener? Why, it’s the super-scary, mega-terrifying Halloween episode of the Co-Main Event Podcast. Just pull up a squeaky old rocking chair and try to listen to Ben and Chad talk about the week’s mixed martial arts news over the spooky sound effects of a howling wolf, the screech of an opening door or, like, a laughing devil or something. This week’s...

After the soaring high that was last week’s All Questions Considered episode, Co-Main Event Podcast No. 125 crashes back to earth, reverting to the crippling normalcy of just having Ben and Chad talk about stuff. Luckily for everyone, there’s actual stuff to talk about this week. The guys address Jose Aldo’s upcoming UFC 179 rematch against Chad Mendes, wondering if anything has changed that would...

With the UFC on hiatus both this weekend and the last, the Co-Main Event Podcast saddles up for another episode of All Questions Considered. It’s simple, really. You send Ben and Chad your email questions and they answer as many of them as they possibly can in an hour and change. From Joe Warren’s Bellator bantamweight title victory to Jake Shields’ WSOF win over Ryan Ford to Mayhem Miller’s conti...

Yet another UFC doubleheader Saturday leaves the Co-Main Event Podcast feeling spent. On this episode, Ben and Chad discuss Rory MacDonald’s victory over Tarec Saffiedine in an apparent welterweight title eliminator. It seems like fans will tacitly accept MacDonald as the next challenger for the 170-pound title, if not exactly welcome him with open arms. Rick Story notched a big upset win as well,...

On the heels of the stellar UFC 178 card, the Co-Main Event Podcast once again finds itself with a good kind of problem: too many compelling storylines to cram into one episode. As usual, Ben and Chad make the best of the time allotted, talking about Conor McGregor’s big win over Dustin Poirier, all the weirdness in the Yoel Romero-Tim Kennedy fight and Eddie Alvarez’s disappointing UFC debut. The...

So, Chris Weidman broke his hand and his fight with Vitor Belfort is pushed back to February? Man, you guys, the Co-Main Event Podcast is starting to feel responsible for this stuff, as one again (!) some big news in the MMA world broke just after Ben and Chad were done recording the show. Without the revelation about Weidman’s busted paw, the guys talk about Eddie Alvarez finally making it to the...

The Co-Main Event Podcast is back … on Mondays! With both Ben and Chad just hanging around town doing nothing special this week, we’re back to our normal schedule. You know what that means … some big news should break in three … two … one … In any case, on episode 120, your dudes talk about Andrei Arlovski’s big knockout win over Bigfoot Silva in Brazil last weekend. They also speak on Emmanuel Ne...

With Ben safely returned from the wilds of Maine, the Co-Main Event Podcast produces what it hopes is its last delayed show for some time. Lucky thing, too, since the MMA world just proves too capable of breaking hella news from Tuesday to Tuesday. We all look forward to getting back to the normal Monday to Monday sched., where news breaks right AFTER the podcast comes out. This week, Ben and Chad...

Now back to irregularly scheduled programming. For the next two weeks, the CME will come out on Tuesdays, which for the record was how the show was conceived in the beginning, before public pressure and the harsh realities of life forced it onto Mondays. In any case, episode 118 sees Ben and Chad breaking down TJ Dillashaw’s bantamweight title win over Joe Soto at last Saturday at UFC 177. Wait, w...

Not gonna lie, after another UFC doubleheader Saturday, the Co-Main Event Podcast felt a little bit like Cung Le fresh from three-plus rounds with Michael Bisping. Ben woke up super early to write MMA Junkie capsules for the Fight Night 48 card in Macau (MACAU!), while Chad … ah, hell, who are we kidding? Chad slept in and then took his time getting around to watching Rafael dos Anjos take out Ben...

After 21 empty, listless days with no shows, the UFC returned with a vengeance this past weekend. With an event scheduled for every Saturday from now (last weekend, actually) through the end of the month, the dog days of summer expect to be … well, empty and listless, but at least replete with face-punching. On this episode of the Co-Main Event Podcast, Ben and Chad discuss Ryan Bader’s win over O...

With one CME host returning to town just as the other skeddadled out the back door, Ben and Chad had to squeeze in episode 115 during the short window when both dudes were still in the One True Time Zone. As a result, this installment of the Co-Main Event Podcast was recorded at Ben’s house, on Saturday and before noon. So, yeah, your dudes weren’t really awake yet, were swilling coffee and trying...

You know the Co-Main Event Podcast has a lot to discuss this week, what with Anthony Johnson’s fearsome punching power and Alexander Gustafsson’s torn meniscus crying havoc with the light heavyweight pecking order. Daniel Cormier (his own bum knee in tow) is subbing in for Gustafsson in a title fight against Jon Jones, but what now will become of Gustafsson? And what, for that matter, of Johnson,...

MMA’s charmed month of July rolled on, as Conor McGregor and 9,500 of his closest, most Irish-est friends blew the roof off O2 arena in Dublin over the weekend. The Co-Main Event Podcast was not in attendance, so had to live vicariously through all the other media types who went over there and partied the night away on the Isle of Erin or whatever. Even from afar, the whole thing had an intoxicati...

After the pleasant dream that was last weekend (no shows! zero!), it’s once again fight week, as MMA fans gear up for two UFC events. Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 45 is headlined by Donald Cerrone vs. Jim Miller. So, that’s probably not going to suck. Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 46/UFC: MeGregor vs. Brandao/UFC: Dublin is a little more difficult to get your arms around. With a main event pitting Con...

The Co-Main Event Podcast has never smelled so clean, nor felt so fresh in its … uh … groin … area. Be warned, CME Universe, this week Ben and Chad record the show under the influence of Dude Wipes, which came in the mail as a thoughtful gift from listener Coleen H. Or maybe it wasn’t so thoughtful. Maybe it was just her subtle way of telling them they stink. In any case, there is a lot of non-odo...

Look, Ben and Chad need to get this episode of the CME recorded quick, so they can make it down to Cub Swanson’s Bar and Grille before the two-for-one appetizer happy hour ends, OK? Before they shuffle off, they discuss newly minted featherweight No. 1 contender Cubbie Sampson’s victory over Jeremy Stephens last week at UFC Fight Night 44 and look ahead to UFC 175 (you know, the one with Chris Wei...

The winners of the second annual White Elephant Essay Contest are finally announced this week, so after a couple of weeks of stalling from Ben and Chad, winners must now begin the interminable wait for those dudes to actually put their prizes in the mail. In any case, thanks to all who entered, it was a fine crop of essays this year, and the guys had a legitimately difficult time picking winners....

Demetrious Johnson put Ali Bagautinov under his spell on Saturday at UFC 174, battering yet another top five flyweight into oblivion. Can the UFC’s 125-pound champion have a similarly dominating effect on fans? Ben and Chad discuss that topic on this week’s Co-Main Event Podcast, as well as Rory MacDonald literally putting Tyron Woodley’s back against the wall during their bout on the same card. P...