The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

By 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 p... more

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The podcast currently has 990 episodes available.

Best of The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

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Number 1: Episode 706: What’s hugs got to do with it?
Is that a Tina Turner reference in the title of this week’s episode? Shut up, don’t worry about it. Anyway, Ian Machado Garry couldn’t quite get it done against Islam Makhachev over the weekend at UFC 330. Garry did a decent job getting up from the takedowns and, as the fight wore on, it actually seemed like Makhachev was the one who got ti-red. But Makhachev had the fight’s biggest moment — kicking Garry in his damn face during the second round — and otherwise was able to salt away the victory with his stifling (if not particularly dangerous) ground game. Could Garry have won it down the stretch if he showed a bit more “killer instinct,” as many (read: Dana White) are saying? Did the fact that he seemed to offer Makhachev head pats and bro hugs between nearly every round reveal something lacking in Garry’s ability to get mean enough to close the show? Is he too SAWFT to be a UFC champ? I mean, surely that’s bullshit, but we discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
August 18, 202658min
Number 2: Episode 707: A Robocop and a Cyborg walk into a bar …
Score a couple for the cybernetic organisms, because the biggest winners of the weekend were Gregory “Robocop” Rodrigues and Cris “Cyborg” Justino. Rodrigues went out there in a UFC Fight Night main event and beat up Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez (who didn’t get on the automated humanoid train with his nickname, which seems like a mistake in retrospect). Cyborg successfully defended her PFL women’s featherweight title against Ketlen Vieira, in a fight that was supposed to be Cyborg’s retirement party — but it turned out Vieira was the one that retired. Also at the UFC event, there were seven first-round stoppages and just three decisions, 11 of the 26 fighters on the card were Dana White Contender Series alums, and 14 fighters earned $50K or less. At PFL, a couple of dudes scored Knockout of the Year-level stoppages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
August 24, 20261h
Number 3: Episode 709: Salahdine Parnasse tests positive for being awesome
It feels like the sport of MMA needs a Salahdine Parnasse right now. You know, a charismatic young fighter with an exciting style and the goods to back it up? In these current days of the UFC just rolling out a factory assembly line of anonymous Contender Series fighters, people like this don’t come along every day anymore. Enter: Salahdine Parnasse, former two-division champ from KSW, who the UFC essentially nabbed out from under MVP (the promotion) after he showed out on the Rousey vs. Carano card in May. The UFC saw fit to give Parnasse a good test in his first fight in the Octagon, booking him against stalwart journeyman Dan Hooker in a main event bout in Paris, France. Well, consider the test passed. From the very limited UFC sample size that we have so far, it looks like Salahdine Parnasse might well be pretty good — and that feels pretty good, if we’re being honest. Plus, MVP (the man) seems to be wrapping up his UFC run after going 5-1. That’s way better than we thought he’d do. And yet, nobody had any fun at all. Looking back, was Bellator right all along to just keep feeding this guy cans he could KO in impressive fashion? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 08, 20261h 3min
Number 4: Episode 708: Is Umar the ‘Ziggy Sobotka’ of the Nurmagomedovs?
It was a weird weekend in combat sports, especially for the big betting favorites. Umar Nurmagomedov cemented his place as the Ziggy Sobotka of his family, getting his plug pulled by Song Ya Dong in their UFC Fight Night main event in Shanghai. The “next Mike Tyson” also lost — as Moses Itauma threatened to rename the Coleman Index after himself, getting more tired than he’d ever been in his life against Filip Hrgovic before his corner threw in the towel. And then there was poor Mike Perry, who dislocated his shoulder early in his fight against replacement opponent Brandon Jenkins (curse you Dillon Danis!) and coughed up his eighth loss in his last 12 MMA fights. Back to BKFC for Platinum Mike, it seems. Plus, earlier in the week, Bella Mir lost her Dana White Contender Series fight (where she was a -6000 favorite). So, that was bad, too. Seriously, you guys, who pissed off the MMA Gods? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
August 31, 20261h 9min
Number 5: Episode 705: Any chance it goes bad for Makhachev at UFC 330?
Is there any chance at all that we’re all sitting here next Monday saying, “Well, yeah, it’s obvious in retrospect that Islam Makhachev might struggle with Ian Garry. This was only Makhachev’s second fight at welterweight, after all. Garry is so long and rangy. If he was able to stop the takedowns, it was always gonna be a problem. They have weight classes for a reason, I guess. Also, ain’t that just the way, when it comes to these so-called unbeatable champions?” Any chance at all? Nah, probably not. But you can’t blame a couple of guys who’ve been meeting here every week to break down the action for 14 YEARS for not at least asking the question. If for no other reason than to keep ourselves occupied. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
August 10, 20261h 2min