The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

So, Jon Jones is out. Like, OUT out. As in Jon Jones is retired. Or … should we say … “retired,” because ain't nobody thinks we've seen the last of this dude in a cage, a ring, or a dusty circle of dirt at some county fairgrounds. In any case, Jones' career ended (for now) the way all the great ones go out — with Dana White making a halfhearted announcement at the postfight press conference for UFC: Baku. Oh, and Jones has once again been charged with a crime — this one stemming from a February incident where he (you're never going to believe this) allegedly left the scene of an early morning car accident. And then maybe threatened to have some police officers killed? So basically, he's just out here living his best life, monetizing this amazing brand he's built. Anyway, Tom Aspinall is champ now. So that's … good? As if that wasn't enough, UFC 317 is this weekend, and Ilia Topuria is more than a 4-to-1 favorite over Charles Oliveira. What??? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, there's still some fight left in this old dog, Kamaru Usman — as Joaquin Buckley found out the hard way in their UFC Fight Night main event on Saturday. The 38-year-old Usman defied the odds and many expectations with a vintage performance that saw him use the ol' wrestling game to take a unanimous decision over the seemingly incredibly ill-prepared up-and-comer. Then Usman got on the mic and hilariously called for a title shot. Yeah … no … that's not going to happen. At least not yet. Usman may have shown he was as good once as he ever was, but can he keep it going long enough to get back in the mix? Plus, was Dom Cruz right? Did Buckley somehow fail to adequately train … for Usman's … wrestling? Because THAT would be an oversight. And did Rodolfo Bellato pull off the biggest flop job in MMA history? This weekend the UFC is off to — pulls out spelling dictionary — Baku, Azerbaijan, which seems like the most obvious cash grab we've seen in some time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not sure how you're supposed to beat this guy Merab Dvalishvili at this point. Poison? Blow darts? The Dark Arts? Regular-ass fighting ain't working, as Sean O'Malley found out at UFC 316 on Saturday. Looked like O'Malley was trying to do the right things — stay off the cage, work the body, show improved takedown defense, get up when Merab put him on the mat. Didn't matter. Merab is just too good at what he does … and it seems like he's getting better at it. If he's gonna start throwing out nasty submissions now? Fuck it, shut it down. And then we gotta show Cory Sandhagen standing in the crowd looking like a middle school kid tryna act tough? Yeah, we're not loving that guy's chances. Plus, Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes? Give it to me, it's mine! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The odds don't look very competitive headed into the dueling title fights atop Saturday's UFC 316. Merab Dvalishvili and Kayla Harrison are both pretty big favorites over their opponents (challenger Sean O'Malley and chalmpion Julianna Peña, respectively). The line on Harrison, in fact, is outlandish — though that fight is admittedly most interesting because of what a Kayla Harrison title reign might look like at women's bantamweight, not necessarily because we expect it to be close. As for O'Malley, is there anything he can do differently against Merab this time around? Aside from not J'ing the peen? Also, Maycee Barber couldn't make the walk last weekend. In and of itself, that doesn't seem like a HUGE deal. Buuuuut … is it indicative of larger, more dire issues with the UFC right now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CME's 13th birthday is coming up, and you know what that means: it's pledge month! Now through June 1, get 50% off a new monthly or annual Patreon subscription when you use the code CME13 at checkout! Get on it! Join the team! Support the community! Stick it to the man! Merab Dvalishvili broke his toe on the dome of a training partner this week, which seems like poor timing, considering his men's bantamweight title defense against Sean O'Malley is coming right up at UFC 316 on June 7. When your game plan hinges at least partially on your unstoppable takedowns, that seems like it could potentially be a big deal. No worries, though. The always irrepressible Merab points out that he's got nine more toes, so if he needs to cut this one off in order to fight O'Malley, so be it. For O'Malley, did foot stomps just become a big part of the strategy? Plus, Vitor Belfort is going in the hall, Nate Diaz is back in the news and is the MMA world ready for Ciryl Gane — leading man? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CME's 13th birthday is this month, and you know what that means: It's pledge month! Now through June 1, GET 50% OFF A NEW MONTHLY OR ANNUAL PATREON SUBSCRIPTION when you use the code CME13 at checkout! Get on it! Join the team! Support the community! Stick it to the man! First you've got Jon Jones riding on the back of a motorbike looking zooted out of his gourd over there in Thailand. Then you've got Jones riding his own motorbike, saying he's “living his best life” on Instagram Live while zigzagging around parked cars. Now you've got Jones replying to random dudes on Twitter (like he does) about how much he doesn't care about potentially getting stripped of the UFC heavyweight title (sure, Jon), and declaring he “told the UFC about his plans” a long time ago. All Jones cares about now, he says, is monetizing the brand he's built — which … I mean … isn't the Jon Jones Brand shooting your gun off outside the strip club and having car wrecks with pregnant ladies? How exactly is he “monetizing” that “brand” from the back of a motorbike in Thailand? Plus, everybody's washed at welterweight all of a sudden, and Ilia Topuria parts ways with his longtime coaches and trainers … WAIT, WHAT? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CME's 13th birthday is coming up, and you know what that means: It's pledge month! Now through June 1, GET 50% OFF A NEW MONTHLY OR ANNUAL PATREON SUBSCRIPTION when you use the code CME13 at checkout! Get on it! Join the team! Support the community! Stick it to the man! Did Jack Della Maddalena ruin everything? Well, it's a fluid situation. As we recorded this episode of the Proper, the MMA world awaited an announcement from Dana White we all assume(d) will be the main event of UFC 317 coming up in June for International Fight Week. What will we get? Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev? Or Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira? By the time you listen to this, you might well know the answer. It's possible that Della Maddalena's welterweight title win over Belal Muhammad at last weekend's UFC 315 will tip a succession of dominoes that could result in Makhachev moving up to 170 pounds to fight JDM, which would leave Topuria to fight Oliveira. And let's be honest, that would kinda suck. It was a brilliant performance by Flatnose Jackie to take the title on Saturday. But at what cost? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CME's 13th birthday is coming up, and you know what that means: It's pledge month! Now through June 1, GET 50% OFF A NEW MONTHLY OR ANNUAL PATREON SUBSCRIPTION when you use the code CME13 at checkout! Get on it! Join the team! Support the community! Stick it to the man! Belal Muhammad said he doesn't care what you think anymore. He knows he's good, even if you don't. Well, I mean, yeah, he is the UFC welterweight champion, so there is some evidence to suggest he's pretty good. Somehow, though, it still feels like there are constantly a lot of doubts. You doubt he'll win his next fight. You doubt it'll be exciting, if he does. You doubt he'll sell many PPVs, you doubt he'll get in the UFC's good graces, you doubt he'll hang onto that belt for long … and on and on and on … So far, for the most part, he's proved you wrong. Still, that makes this weekend's title defense at UFC 315 against Jack Della Maddalena all the more important. It's the first time in a long while that Belal isn't the underdog. So … gotta win this one, right? Plus, what now for Bo Nickal? That's up to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CME's 13th birthday is coming up, and you know what that means: It's pledge month! Now through June 1, GET 50% OFF A NEW MONTHLY OR ANNUAL PATREON SUBSCRIPTION when you use the code CME13 at checkout! Get on it! Join the team! Support the community! Stick it to the man! Ya boi Ian (Machado) Garry commands a lot of attention in MMA. If the most difficult thing a UFC fighter can do in the year of our lord 2025 is make people care about your fights, well, Garry's got that part down. Take Saturday's scrap with Carlos Prates, for example. What otherwise might have been a fairly run-of-the-mill Fight Night main event felt like appointment viewing with Garry and Prates involved. As it turned out, it was pretty much a cakewalk for Garry … except those last five minutes. Plus, Anthony Smith had the classiest retirement possible when you're bathed in your own blood and flipping off some rando in the crowd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The two-night extravaganza that was Wrestlemania 41 went down over the weekend in Las Vegas, much to the delight and consternation of marks and smarks everywhere. Yeah, yeah, we know the CME ain't a rasslin' podcast, but one thing caught our attention that may be of interest to the combat sports audience: Dana White got booed. Yep. They showed Dana White on the broadcast and on the big screen inside Allegiant Stadium, and they booed that man. Twice! In his hometown! And the face Dana made as it was happening? Clearly a guy who didn't love that it was happening, but was trying to be cool about it. So, what gives? Dana White is used to being received as the conquering hero and No. 1 big swinging dick by MMA crowds. And yet here he is at Wrestlemania — probably doing a solid for the TKO brass just by showing up — and the live crowd ain't having it. What, if anything, does this tell us about the difference between the UFC audience and the WWE audience? Plus, the Netflix CEO doesn't sound OVERLY thrilled about the idea of landing the UFC, and Ian (whispers: Machado!) Garry fights Carlos Prates this weekend in a fight with some actual stakes for both dudes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your boy Alexander Volkanovski is champion again, besting a fairly valiant effort by Diego Lopes at UFC 314 Saturday to claim the vacant UFC featherweight title. Volk looked pretty good, too, beating Lopes at range and mixing up the takedown attempts en route to the unanimous decision win. For The Fall Out Boy, well, it seemed like he just got started too late — spent too much time fighting Volk's fight early on. Maybe if this one had been eight rounds instead of five, things might have been different. Alas. Wait, though. Now that Volk's 36 and has already defeated most of the bankable top contenders in the division, what's left for him to do? Is he really gonna fight Movsar Evloev? That seems … anticlimactic. Plus, Paddy Pimblett beat the shit out of Michael Chandler … and other listener mail questions! Also, right now through May 1, get 15% off a VOLKAMANIA T-shirt by using the discount code VOLKBACK at: https://comaineventshop.bigcartel.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Look, we're just being honest. After back-to-back KO losses to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, and a 1-3 record dating back to 2023, we couldn't help but wonder if we'd already seen the best of Alexander Volkanovski. Then, lo and behold, Topuria moves up to lightweight, and suddenly Volk is right back in the mix — going off as a slight betting favorite against Diego Lopes in their 145-pound title unification bout at UFC 314. And yet, the former champ is 36 … and we all know what happens to guys in these lighter weight classes once they hit 35. So we've gotta ask: How long can Volkamania really be expected to run wild? Oh, and Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett? Yeesh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Pyfer got food poisoning — or maybe it was altitude sickness — and now he's, like, furious. He had to call off his fight with Kelvin Gastelum because his tum-tum hurt, and he's pissed that he slept in a tent on the floor for nothing. In a tent! On the floor! Obviously, this is Mexico's fault. It's a shithole, Joe Pyfer says. Joe Pyfer is never going back to Mexico. Mexico can suck Joe Pyfer's balls. Literally. Hey, you know who didn't call off her fight because she had the tummy troubles? Loopy Godinez. Loopy Godinez just went out there and defeated Julia Polastri and diarrhea all in one night— and she didn't even tell any nations of 130 million people to suck her balls. Though she did tell her corner that she had to poop. God, what a stupid sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big Tommy Gas Hands brought his rubber ducky to UFC London. See what he did there? That's a little elbow to the ribs of Jon Jones, who we know Aspinall has been chasing all over God's green earth trying to get a shot at unifying the heavyweight title. That's got to be frustrating. Weirdly, however, Aspinall emerged from a meeting with UFC brass last week saying he was excited, that he felt great, that “big announcements” are coming soon. Yet, he also didn't specifically say those big announcements had anything to do with Jones. So, is he just messing with us, or is something else on the horizon? Plus, Sean Brady jumped up four spots to No. 1-contender status on the UFC's official welterweight rankings after defeating Leon Edwards. Yes, you read that correctly. Brady now officially outranks THAT BOOT GOOD. SAY WHAT??? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If we told you going into UFC 313 that Magomed Ankalaev would go 0-for-12 on takedown attempts in his light heavyweight title fight against Alex Pereira, would you have thought that shaped up as a win for Ankalaev? Yeah, we wouldn't either. That's what happened, however, with Ankalaev using a surprisingly effective striking attack coupled with a suffocating clinch game to take the strap from Poatan. And look, we get it. Everybody loves Pereira. We do, too. Literally nobody (besides his friends and family) is excited for the Ankalaev Era. But was Ankalaev's performance really as boring as some people are saying? Or is that just our sadness about Pereira getting the best of us? Plus, Dana White says a rematch is probably next for both guys. Is it, though? And we all know Justin Gaethje's got that dog in him, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that he's also really, really, really good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the worst kind of fight? A tough-ass matchup against an opponent nobody cares about. That's exactly what Pereira has on his hands against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 on Saturday, so much so that everybody involved (except Ankalaev) appeared put it off as long as they possibly could. But, here's Poatan, at 37 and sitting on the brink of cleaning out the light heavyweight division, facing his fourth fight in just under 12 months against the man some say shapes up as his stiffest test at 205. Ain't that just the way? Plus, Rafael Fiziev seemed to surprise even himself by getting the call to step in for Dan Hooker in the co-main event fight against Justin Gaethje.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doesn't Henry Cejudo know that when somebody tries to go full Moe Howard on you (looking in your direction Song Yadong) all you gotta do is throw the hand up in front of your face to block it? Guess he missed that day in Greatest Combat Sports Athlete of All Time School. We kid, obviously. Still, though, shoutout to Cejudo, Song and Jason Herzog for reminding us this week that sometimes the shortest distance between you and winning the fight is just to gouge your opponent's eyes out. Plus, a ton of fight booking news! Topuria goes up! Hooker drops out! Volko and The Fallout Boy are in! That Boy Good can't go! Muhammad gets Jackie Flat Nose! Oh, what a rush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would somebody please get this goddamn Jon Jones a hobby already? You can just about set your watch to this shit. Give Jones a fight, give him something to train for, some structure, some direction in his life, and it seems like this man is unstoppable. Give him like EVEN ONE SECOND of downtime and he's liable to get intoxicated and film an Instagram live video about how he wants to kill somebody. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DID OVER THE WEEKEND. Who was Jones talking about? What precipitated this behavior? Was he speaking literally or figuratively? And WHY ON EARTH would he FILM this shit on Instagram? In other news, Jared Cannonier refused to go quietly into the domain of the gatekeeper and stepping stone and, you know what, fucking good on him. Also, Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong are gonna mix it up in Seattle this weekend and the oddsmakers don't LOVE Henry's chances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UFC 312 seemed to signal a community-wide awakening on Sean Strickland. After watching him go out with a whimper against Dricus Du Plessis (again!) it felt like everybody had kind of had enough of his bullshit. Sure, the visionaries on this podcast have been saying for AWHILE that what Strickland advertises prefight (a bloodthirsty maniac!) is quite different than what you actually get inside the cage (a careful point fighter, who came into this bout apparently having made like ZERO adjustments). After this one, however, it felt like fans knew it, other fighters knew it and even his own corner sort of seemed to know it. So, that feels like curtains for ya boi Sean. The irony is, of course, that Strickland actually DOES feel like a psychopathic lunatic in all other aspects of his life. Just ... not when he's fighting. Plus, damn you can't doubt DDP anymore. Except in his next fight against Khamzat Chimaev ... surely he'll lose that one ... right? Also, are Dana White and Ari Emanuel about to try to "fix" boxing by going after the Ali Act? Well, shit, of course they are! Why didn't we see that coming?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sure, Dricus du Plessis' middleweight championship win over Sean Strickland back at UFC 297 was a close one. Split decision. Could've gone either way, maybe. But, be honest, were any of us really sitting around trying to quench an unquenchable thirst to see them run it back? No. Nobody had that thirst. Nobody except one man. Unfortunately, it was the one man who makes all the decisions, so … here we are. Plus, Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez seems like a pretty compelling fight, actually. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since we missed the Proper yesterday, we feel obligated to offer up today's episode of the Patreon Live Chat for free. We hope this satisfies your bloodlust for unfettered discourse on the wild, weird and occasionally wonderful world of mixed martial arts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili both retained their titles on Saturday at UFC 311. In truth, Merab stole the show in the co-main event, finally emerging with the unanimous decision win over Umar Nurmagomedov after an insane, exciting, back-and-forth fight. In the main event, well, it wasn't totally Islam's fault that he couldn't put on a similarly inspiring showing, after Arman Tsarukyan dropped out with back issues at the last minute. Still, Islam made it look pretty, pretty, pretty easy against replacement fighter Renato Moicano. Plus, with Jiri Prochazka suddenly showing something resembling some defense in a win over Jamahal Hill, are we getting ahead of ourselves to say light heavyweight is … back? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oddsmakers really like Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov to win their respective title fights this weekend at UFC 311. Maybe that's understandable since, along with ya bois Khabib and Usman, the former students of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov are a combined *checks notes* 91-1 in professional MMA fights. That's pretty good! Hold on, though. Arman Tsarukyan (who fights Makhachev for the lightweight title) and Merab Dvalishvili (who defends HIS men's bantamweight title against Umar) are also both pretty good! So, what gives? Also, uh, we sure this shit is gonna go down at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, UFC? Because the whole shit down there in that region is on fire. Plus, is Mackenzie Dern at risk of finally living up to her potential? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall happen? Can Alex Peieria continue his run? What will the new UFC broadcast deal look like? Does Conor McGregor do anything MMA related, and do we care? These are the questions we wrestle with this week as we don our prognosticating hats and try to divine what will go down in the UFC in 2025. Also, Dana White has joined the board of directors at Meta. We are well and truly doomed, aren't we? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the show where we honor the most notable achievements in combat sports -- for better and for worse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friends, our apologies for leaving you hanging without an episode of the Proper yesterday. Circumstances beyond our control and all that. We hope that you will accept this free episode of the Patreon Live Chat as a peace offering. On this episode we entertain such questions as: Who is worse, Jon Jones or Conor McGregor? What's left for Colby Covington after losing to Joaquin Buckley? And what MMA fighter would be the worst to get a present from in your office white elephant gift exchange? We hope you like it. Also, if you really, really want to become a member of the CME Patreon, email us! Maybe we can still get you that discount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, maybe Shavkat Rakhmonov fought Ian (Machado) Garry with an injury on Saturday at UFC 310. Maybe that's why THAT BOY GOOD didn't look quite as GOOD as we expected, even as he emerged with the unanimous decision win. Maybe it was merely the fault of our own expectations that left us feeling disappointed by the fight. And, yeah, now everybody's gotta admit that Garry is very good. Maybe even elite welterweight good. Plus, Alexandre Pantoja is, in fact, that dominant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yeah, we know what you're thinking. First of all: Men's flyweight pay per view main event? Second of all: Who the hell is Kai Asakura? We get it. From 15,000 feet, maybe UFC 310 doesn't look like the greatest PPV of the year … and it's not. But you know what? It's actually a pretty deep fight card. Not only do you get to see the former two-time Rizin (Risin'? Risen?) bantamweight champ Asakura drop to 125-pounds and fight for the title against Alexandre Pantoja in his UFC debut, but you get to see Shavkat THAT BOY GOOD Rakhmonov and Ian (Machado!) Garry square off in a battle of undefeated prospects. Plus, you got Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov (for the interim interim interim heavyweight title, maybe) and Bryce Mitchell vs. Kron Gracie (uh, wut?) as well as appearances by such luminaries as Nate THE TRAIN Landwehr (If he doesn't lose, he'll probably win!), Vicente Luque (thankfully NOT fighting Nick Diaz), Aljamain Sterling (fighting on the prelims for some reason) and Chris Weidman (still fighting for some reason). Don't tempt us with a good time, UFC! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It has been a long time since Conor McGregor was a relevant fighter in the UFC. Now, his worth as a human being seems to be rapidly diminishing, as well. This week, after being found guilty of rape in a civil trial in Ireland, some bad stuff finally started happening to McGregor. Now that he's an adjudicated rapist, he's been ordered to pay his victim around $250,000, has been ditched by the new owners of Proper 12, has been cut out of a video game appearance and has lost some distribution of his various other liquor companies in Ireland. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, eh? Is this finally the tipping point for McGregor, where the roller coaster has reached the top of the incline and begins to tip ever slightly toward the heart-racing, bone-rattling plummet to the bottom? Maybe. One thing that seems obvious, however, is that the UFC will almost certainly try to book him in another fight sometime in 2025. This week, we break down what McGregor's guilt means for his future both in fighting and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fights themselves were not necessarily the story for either Jake Paul or Jon Jones, during what has to be considered one of the biggest combat sports weekends in recent memory. For Jake Paul, it wasn't really that interesting that he went out there on Friday and beat the Ghost of Mike Tyson at Cowboy Stadium in front of a reported 65 million households on Netflix. The story was how many people watched, and how they reacted. Meanwhile, for Jones, his UFC 309 heavyweight championship fight against 42-year-old Stipe Miocic also went about as expected. The big plotline, though, is what Jones will do next. Also, HEY, did you know we're running a 50% off holiday special over at the CME Patreon? Right now through Dec. 15 you can get half off a monthly or annual membership if you head over to patreon.com/comainevent and enter the code 20E37 at checkout. Isn't that something? Sounds like you should probably do that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Albeit for very different reasons, we've been looking forward to both Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic and Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul for a while now. Both fights have experienced lengthy delays (one owing to Jones' torn pectoral, the other owing to Tyson “vomiting blood and defecating tar” on an airplane) and now they are going to share a single weekend. The spectacle that will be Tyson vs. Paul airs Friday night on Netflix, and perhaps even more than the fight itself, we're keen to see what the reaction will be on that platform. Jones and Miocic do the damn thing for the UFC heavyweight title the next night from Madison Square Garden in the main event of UFC 309. It'll be Jones' second foray into the big boy division, while Miocic returns for the first time since 2021. What will happen? Well, oddsmakers think they know. Is there any chance we might be surprised? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Belal Muhammad is out of his scheduled title defense against Shavkat THAT BOY GOOD Rakhmonov at UFC 310, owing to an infected bone in his toe. Say what? An infected BONE? We didn't even know that was a thing that could happen. The hunt is now on for a replacement and you KNOW who the UFC is going to call first. Alex Pereira, that's who. Honestly, though, hasn't Poatan done enough? Can't we just leave this guy a lone for a few months? Meanwhile, Rahkmonov has called out Kamaru Usman for an interim title fight. Hmmmm … not sure what we think about that. Plus, Brandon Moreno reminds us who the F he is and Conor McGregor proves for the 1,073rd time that he is a bad person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a strange mix of emotions we felt watching UFC 308. On one hand, it was cool to see guys like Ilia Topuria and Khamzat Chimaev score big wins to solidify themselves among the next wave of MMA's great fighters. But why, oh why, did it have to happen at the expense of our beloved Max Holloway and Robert Whittaker? In the end it was another stark reminder that fighting is not like other sports. In football or baseball or soccer, your favorite player gets old and gets cut from the team. Maybe they embarrass themselves by signing as a free agent somewhere else and hanging on too long before sailing away into a cushy retirement. No biggie. But, in combat sports, JFC, we have to watch them get brutally knocked out or, in some cases, get their teeth broken and their jaws CRUNCHED. But also maybe … that's why we watch? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are a lot of lean times in MMA. A lot of times where it feels like, for lack of a better term, ain't shit goin' on. This is not one of them. With Francis Ngannou making his return to MMA last Saturday with a first-round KO over Renan Ferreira in PFL and this Saturday offering us Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway at UFC 308, well, that's about as good a couple of weekends as we're gonna get in the year of our lord 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Francis Ngannou returns to the cage for the first time since January 2022. A lot has transpired since then, as we all know: Big Fran left the UFC amid a bitter contract dispute, he made a lot of money boxing, he suffered unthinkable personal tragedy … and now, he's going to show up to fulfill his obligations to PFL by fighting Renan Ferreira on the fight company's “Battle of the Giants” pay-per-view. Seems like a lot could go wrong here, both for the now 38-year-old Ngannou and the PFL, which frankly has a pretty good PPV card here it hasn't promoted very well. So, does Battle of the Giants come up big … or small? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UFC 307 was not one for the record books. In fact, right up to the point that Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr. took the cage for the light heavyweight title fight main event, it was sort of a stinker. But then Pereira and Rountree went to war – and it was pretty glorious. Shoutout to Rountree for showing up and showing out better than we had any right to expect. Ultimately, though, it was Pereira once again proving that not only is he the best 205-pounder on the planet, but he's also the UFC's MVP. Seriously, though, don't call him again for a while. He sounds like he needs some time off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Pereira sure fights a lot. Saturday's light heavyweight title defense against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 will be Poatan's fourth fight in the last calendar year and also his 10th in the UFC since his promotional debut in Nov. 2021. Especially at the championship level, that's a fairly absurd output. In fact, it's the sort of thing that we've seen come back to bite people in the past. This weekend, however, Pereira is almost a 5-to-1 favorite against the surprise challenger. So … that should be good enough to get him through. Right? Plus, it's unfair, but we're all just sort of waiting for Raquel Pennington and Juliana Pena to get this one over with so one of them can fight Kayla Harrison (assuming Harrison ALSO wins on Saturday).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The UFC's long-awaited, much hyped debut at Sphere in Las Vegas finally went down Saturday and – you know what? – it was actually pretty cool. The visuals were stunning, the atmosphere was unique and it was refreshing to see the fight company break out of its cookie-cutter mold and take some chances. Now, was it the greatest night in the history of combat sports or whatever? Probably not. Did the venue itself largely overshadow the fights (some of which were kinda meh)? Yeah, it did. But, long story short, we'd like to see more Sphere. We'd like the UFC to continue to Sphere. Added Sphering seems like it would be cool. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, Main-iacs, the time is finally here. This is the week the UFC heads across town to (the) Sphere for UFC 306. Dana White has convinced himself that the dummies on the internet said he couldn't do it, so a lot is riding on how things come out. The UFC is promising short films between fights and that the fights themselves will take place in “different worlds.” What's that mean? We don't know! Oh, also, Sean O'Malley defends his men's bantamweight title against Merab Dwalishvili and Alexa Grasso looks to settle her feud with Valentina Shevchenko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since we missed the Proper yesterday, we thought we'd go ahead and put this episode of the Live Chat out on the regular free CME podcast feed. For you free listeners, think of it as a view behind the curtain at what's going on at our Patreon Page. Seriously, it's wild! It's weird! Is it sometimes wonderful? Only one way to find out. Join the team: https://www.patreon.com/comainevent For those of you who are already with us, please enjoy an ad free version of the show. This week: the UFC's obsession with Jon Jones being the GOAT gets even weirder, Alex Pereira thinks about going back to middleweight (?), and women's MMA experiences a lull. Plus, one patron will play in the international box lacrosse championship, one patron is about to have his first BJJ match and one patron pulls off his most devious heel move yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caio Borralho and Jared Cannonier actually had themselves an entertaining scrap on Saturday in the main event of the UFC's latest offering on ESPN. In the end, it was Borralho notching the unanimous decision win … after coming as close as humanly possible to knocking out Cannonier without them actually scoring it that way on the official record. It was clearly the biggest win of Borralho's career and rocketed him up to No. 5 on the UFC's official middleweight rankings. But did it also make him the most interesting title contender for DDP? Plus, Borralho is a product of the Fighting Nerds MMA team. Say what now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does Dricus du Plessis keep doing this shit, man? This is a guy who fights like he's in PRIDE in like 2005. He rushes in, throwing them haymakers, seemingly just hoping for the best — and somehow it's still working for him. This he proved Saturday at UFC 305, defeating Israel Adesanya via fourth round submission (!) to retain his middleweight title. It really and truly boggles the mind. Plus, Carlos Prates looks like a bad man and Ariel Helwani is on the move. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're going to Perth for UFC 305 and Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title. It's both a fight and a fight card that are flying under the radar just a little bit here. There's a lot on this show that seems like it might be of, uh, local interest. Hold on, though, are we giving this card short shrift? Does this fight between DDP and Izzy actually have bigger implications than we are giving it credit for? Plus, Francis Ngannou's MMA return is on the books. Too soon? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The UFC this week made good on its promise to book a men's featherweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway and we … are … stoked. For hardcore fans, this might be the best fight available right now (if we're really going through with Jones vs. Stipe instead of Jones vs. Aspinall) and actually getting it is cause for celebration. It's going down at UFC 308 in October. Only question is, will Holloway's BMF belt be on the line, too, or are we finally admitting the BMF title is just some shit we hand out to whoever, whenever it fits our needs? Plus, Dana White would like us to believe the judge denying the settlement in the UFC antitrust lawsuit is rooted in some high school bullshit and Conor McGregor showed up to cosplay at Stugis of all goddamned places. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Belal Muhammad went and did it. The man the UFC forced to go 10 fights without a loss between 2019-2024 before finally granting him a title shot. The man who came into Manchester a significant underdog to champion Leon Edwards. The one we all thought faced a terrible matchup of styles behind enemy lines. That guy. He walked out of UFC 304 the new welterweight champ on Saturday. So, shows what we all know. The so-called experts. Something tells us Muhammad's not going to be the UFC brass' favorite champ. But at least now we're all damn sure going to remember the name. Plus, Tom Aspinall upholds his end of the bargain as far as any of these potential heavyweight superfights are concerned. And Muhammad Mokaev won his big grudge match against Manel Kape and still pretty much got fired. That's actually kinda hard to do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oops! … He did it again. Jake Paul played with our hearts, got lost in the game on Saturday, as he dispatched Mike Perry via sixth round TKO. Things went a little off the rails after that, with Conor McGregor trying to “fire” Perry on social media and calling Paul a “pissbag.” Meanwhile, Paul called out Alex Pereira in a fight which seemed both interesting and also impossible. OK, so hear us out, guys. Paul is now 10-1 as professional boxer. He's proven himself to be a compelling draw. He's also a pretty good boxer. Though he's clearly not championship level, would it ever be possible for him to – let's say if he wins five or six more fights – to compete for some lesser boxing title? Like, the IBWQZF cruiserweight belt or something? I mean, he probably wouldn't win, but it seems like insane every day to ponder if he might at least get the opportunity. Also, UFC 304 is this weekend, where Belal Muhammad finally gets his welterweight title fight against Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall accomplishes the dubious achievement of actually defending the “interim” heavyweight championship against Curtis Blaydes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things Jon Jones has done on Twitter over the last few weeks include, but are not limited to: Announcing he gained 50/50 custody of a son we (maybe?) didn't know he had. Posted a picture with his new cybertruck. Forgot his own birthday (maybe?). And also posted that he cut half his finger off at the Las Vegas airport. Maybe? Hard to know. After Jones did the old tweet-and-delete of his finger tweet, he pretty much went back to business as usual. Like, tweeting about how magic is real, and Jesus Christ is the strongest magic of all. Shit like that. Also, like getting charged with a couple misdemeanors in the wake of his recent weird alleged confrontation with drug testers. So, truth is, we don't know the status of any of Jones' fingers at the moment. But, like, if Jon Jones lost a finger, we'll find out about it eventually, right? Maybe? Plus, the UFC is really leaning into the Just Some Fights ass shit this summer and … hey … Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry is this weekend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, you know what they say about sunshine and the proverbial dog's ass. Hard to believe, but Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal went out there and had an (allegedly) entertaining boxing match over the weekend. We guess the law of averages says it was bound to happen eventually. Question is, though, now that we're this far down the road into the overwhelmingly disappointing “old MMA guys try to box” period of our declining society, did anybody watch? Plus, Jon Jones says he and Stipe finally have something on the books and Reug Reug wins a fight against a guy named Ketchup that was even more ridiculous than it sounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turned out, Alex Pereira didn't need the dark arts to defeat Jiri Prochazka. He just needed Prochazka to continually rush at him with little to no defenses around his face until Pereira could start landing his bombs. Next thing you know, Jiri was standing there making his sad samurai face while Poatan was getting his hand raised. But now that Pereira is ensconced as UFC light heavyweight champion and one of the UFC's most interesting draws, what's next for him? I mean, if you're the UFC and you want to create a huge spectacle AND make tons of money, it's got to be Jon Jones, right? Right? Plus, Diego Lopes is now the champion of the 1-6-5 and Andrei Arlovski – who has been with the UFC longer than Dana White – is done. At least inside the octagon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, now we know. It was the toe. The pinkie toe, to be exact. The littlest pig. That's what kept Conor McGregor out of the fight of the year, his grudge (?) match years in the making against Michael Chandler. And lo, what irony of all ironies it was the original SLG himself, Chael Sonnen, who trolled Conor into posting pics of the injured digit online which … yeah, that went about like you'd expect. With McGregor and Chandler off (perhaps for good), this weekend we get a revamped UFC 303 card that looks, well, just fine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conor McGregor is out. Alex Pereira is in. Michael Chandler is out. Jiri Prochazka is in. Jamahal Hill is out. Anthony Smith is in. Elsewhere, Khamzat Chimaev is out. Ikram Alizkerov (?) is in. Mike Tyson is out (at least for the moment). Mike Perry is in. Seriously, enough you guys. Plus, Anderson and Chael boxed kind of. And Ben is back from Ireland! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices