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PODCAST

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

Chad Dundas and Ben Fowlkes

An irreverent and unscripted look at the week"s mixed martial arts news from longtime MMA journalists Ben Fowlkes and Chad Dundas. Topics include the latest happenings in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

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All Episodes

83:49

Episode 541: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/03/06

Goddamn, he made that look easy. During the week leading up to UFC 285, Jon Jones said he expected people to be shocked by how effortlessly he'd beat Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title. Jones said it would be a mismatch and we were all like, well, I don't know if I'd say it's going to be a mis--oh, holy shit. It took Jones all of two minutes, four seconds to choke out Gane and now JBJ is the UFC heavyweight champion, which sounds both outrageous and somehow totally fitting. After it was over, he

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69:35

Episode 540: Jones vs. Gane is upon us (we hope)!

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/02/27

This episode takes a deep dive into a thing we once thought would never actually happen: Jon Jones' move to heavyweight. This Saturday at UFC 285, the greatest light heavyweight of all time finally takes that walk, gunning for the vacant heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane. You know ... maybe. It's Jon Jones fight week, after all, which means anything can happen. It's sort of impossible to forecast how a 35-year-old Jones, more than three years removed from his last appearance in the cage, training

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82:18

Episode 539: Erin Blanchfield is the real deal

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/02/20

Erin Blanchfield jumps up to the No. 2 spot on the UFC's official women's flyweight rankings this week after her drubbing of a short-notice Jessica Andrade Saturday at a UFC Fight Night. Hard to say she doesn't deserve it. Blanchfield looked outstanding en route to a second round submission and now has duly earned her chance to compete with the division's elite. Plus, some gnarly shit happened at BKFC Knucklemaina and, speaking of women's flyweight elite, Tatiana Suarez returns this weekend! This

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78:14

Episode 538: A fight for the ages

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/02/13

Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski had themselves perhaps one of the greatest fights on all time on Saturday at UFC 284. For all the hoopla about a superfight and the Nos. 1-2 pound for pound fighters on the planet squaring off, these dudes delivered. Makhachev was a better striker than we anticipated, Volkanovski a better wrestler. And while Islam won the fight, did Alex actually win our hearts? Plus, it wouldn't be MMA without a little controversy. Public opinion seemed to be divided over

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85:57

Episode 537: Well, that was sad

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/02/06

We thought it was weird from the start that Fedor Emelianenko wanted to have his retirement fight against Ryan Bader. It was. Friends, Fedor looked every single day of his 46 years on this planet on Saturday in the Bellator 290 main event. The greatest MMA heavyweight of all time barely threw a punch en route to a first-round TKO victory for Bader. Yep. Sad. And strange. But at least Bellator seemed to understand the magnitude of the moment. Also, UFC 284 is this weekend, featuring a bonafide

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78:01

Episode 536: Is MMA ready to let go of Fedor?

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/01/30

We are led to believe that Saturday's Bellator 290 will include the last fight for The Last Emperor. The 46-year-old Fedor Emelianenko will do the damn thing one more time in a rematch against Ryan Bader. Do we really believe this will be it for him? That's hard to say. If we had our druthers would Fedor's swan song be a rematch with Bader? Nah, not really. But this man was once a phenomenon and he might still be the greatest heavyweight of all time. We guess that means he gets to write his own

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70:37

Episode 535: What will a Jamahal Hill title reign...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/01/23

Jamahal Hill answered all our questions against Glover Teixeira on Saturday night at UFC 283. Could he handle the step-up in competition? Yes. Was he ready to go hard for the full 25 minutes? Indeed. Would he be cowed by having 13,000 Brazilians chanting for his death? Hell no. Hill emerged with the clean sweep unanimous decision over Teixeira and -- sort of out of nowhere -- also the UFC light heavyweight title. So, what will the Jamahal Hill Era look like? We have some guesses. Plus, Brandon

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77:08

Episode 534: Francis Ngannou KOs UFC in contract...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/01/16

Well, he did it. Francis Ngannou waited-out his UFC contract while rehabbing from knee surgery during 2022 and now he's a free man. There's never been a better time to be a free agent in combat sports and Ngannou seems like he's in a unique position to capitalize on it. What will he do next? Where will he go? And how much will he make? Meanwhile, Dana White is still sitting in front of microphones telling obvious lies about why fighters increasingly choose to depart the UFC. His claims seem

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85:09

Episode 533: It's fight week! (and surely there's...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/01/09

Well, fuck, you guys. We had just hit "export" on the latest episode of the CME when we refreshed Twitter to see the planned UFC main event between Nassourdine Imavov and Kelvin Gastelum is off and now SEAN STRICKLAND is in for an injured Gastelum. That's certainly unfortunate ... but a lot of this week's episode still stands up. It's still fight week and we still feel a weird pressure to stop talking about Dana White slapping his wife in the face at a club in Mexico on New Year's Eve and start

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83:51

Episode 532: The State of MMA in 2023

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2023/01/03

With video of Dana White slapping his wife in the face in a club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on New Year's Eve now spreading across the internet, we are forced to frame this week's discussion around whether MMA is edging ever closer to a world without the longtime UFC president. Regardless if White skates on this incident the same way he's skated without any real consequences so much in the past, it feels like he's getting closer to the exit, doesn't it? How would that effect the UFC? Maybe not at

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71:51

Episode 531: It was a weird year for stars in the UFC

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/12/20

Conor McGregor didn't fight. Jon Jones didn't fight. Francis Ngannou fought once, in January, and then spent the rest of the year rehabbing from injury with perhaps one foot out the door. Nate Diaz left. Israel Adesanya lost the title. It was a weird year for stars in the UFC. But was it also a preview of times to come? We discuss on the last CME Proper of the 2022. This episode is brought to you in part by NordVPN. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain or use the code

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87:59

Episode 530: Paddy Pimblett breaks the internet

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/12/12

Paddy Pimblett somehow messed around and was awarded a unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon on Saturday at UFC 282, in a co-main event bout almost everybody who watched live thought Gordon won. To say there was some, um, discussion about that afterward would be a bit of an understatement. Basically people lost their shit--and they hadn't even seen the main event yet, where Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a split draw over the UFC light heavyweight title. So, yeah, judging is on

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76:06

Episode 529: Wonderman! What is the secret of your...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/12/05

Score one for the old dogs at Saturday's UFC on ESPN event. Not only did Stephen "Wonderman" Thompson emerge victorious over an injured Kevin Holland in the main event, but Clay Guida, Rafeal dos Anjos and Angela Hill also got wins. So that'll teach these young whippersnappers a thing or two! Plus, it's UFC 282 fight week and we are sad to report that Robbie Lawler is out and his fight against Santiago Ponzinibbio is scrapped. Still a pretty fun card though, all things considered. Also, James

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87:53

Episode 528: Conor McGregor probably took PEDs, Conor...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/11/28

Well, this is a new one. After months of speculation on exactly what he was up to when the UFC apparently let him opt out of the USADA testing pool while recovering from the horrible leg injury he suffered at UFC 264, Conor McGregor appeared to admit in a flurry of tweets that he took a bunch of PEDs. He also appeared to say "how dare you" to anybody who questioned him about it. Frankly, we're not sure if this is stupid or genius, but it certainly gives us a lot to talk about. Plus, Larissa Pacheco

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78:44

Episode 527: Is Vadim Nemkov the world's No. 1 LHW?

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/11/21

We have once again reached an odd inflection point where Bellator MMA could lay conceivable claim to having the best fighter in the world in a particular weight class. This time it's light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov, who put on a remarkable performance Friday night against Corey Anderson in the delayed final of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix. Nemkov went and did the thing we're always asking MMA fighters to do: he closed the specific holes in his game necessary to win this fight

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80:55

Episode 526: UFC 281 was WILD

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/11/14

This week, we take listener questions on all things UFC 281. Will Israel Adesanya get an immediate rematch against Alex Pereira after dropping the middleweight title in a fight he was probably on his way to winning on the cards? Should we actually be giving two-time UFC champion Carla Esparza more credit, despite this most recent drubbing at the hands of Zhang Weili? Did Michael Chandler earn his Dundasso blackbelt before getting choked out by Cool Dusty P? And what on earth has happened to Dominick

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77:27

Episode 525: UFC 281 preview bonanza

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/11/07

As has become customary for pay-per-views, two title fights are on the docket Saturday at UFC 281. One is a hotly anticipated middleweight championship match between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira that everybody is stoked for and where nobody seems to know what will happen. The other one? Not QUITE so much intrigue. In the evening's co-main event, Zhang Welli challenges Carla Esparza for the strawweight belt in a bout that most assume marks the end of Esparza's reign as champion. Then again, we

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79:20

Episode 524: Admit it, Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/10/31

Two things can be true at once: Is Jake Paul just using these aging MMA fighters to make himself a series of huge paydays from relatively easy fights? Yes, obviously. But did Paul and Showtime also celebrate Anderson Silva better both before and after their scrap on Saturday night than the UFC did at the end of Silva's MMA career? Also yes. So, that seems notable. On top of everything else, Silva and Paul went out there and had a pretty fun fight, even if it didn't end the way most inside the bubble

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76:05

Episode 523: Islam Makhachev is astonishing

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/10/24

We did not think it was going to go like that. Both figuratively and literally, our money was on Charles Oliveira to once again become lightweight champion at UFC 280. As it happened, Islam Makhachev was absolutely dominant, rolling to a second-round submission victory. Now, it seems the powers that be will set him up with a champ-champ fight against Alexander Volkanovski. That sucks for all the other lightweights, but you can absolutely take all our money for it. Plus, who's to blame for TJ

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84:57

Episode 522: Some of us are a little TOO pumped for...

The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast ·

2022/10/17

Let's face it, Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev seems like a heck of a fight for the "vacant" UFC lightweight title. Factor in that this event goes down in the middle of a Saturday afternoon (can't argue with mid-day fights!) and the UFC has efficiently increased our hunger by feeding us a steady diet of garbage Fight Nights in recent weeks and we are pumped. Are we actually a little bit TOO pumped? This episode is brought to you in part by Draft Kings. If you or someone you know has a gambling

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