The Co-main Event Podcast

Leon Edwards went into Saturday's welterweight title fight against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 as both the champion and a bit more than a 2-to-1 underdog. As of Monday morning, he's now one thing, but not the other. Edwards pitched a masterpiece against Usman in their third fight against each other, ultimately retaining the gold via majority decision and proving that the oddsmakers had no clue what they were talking about. Plus, Justin Gaethje ain't done! He rebounded to also score a majority decision win over Rafeal Fiziev in the UFC 286 co-main. Get this, Gaethje salted away the third round using his jab and an uppercut. Guy has skills! This episode is brought to you in part by NordVPN. Get your Exclusive NordVPN deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain or use the code comain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman are going to do it again, brother, for the third time on Saturday at UFC 286 in London. The champion is going off as a fairly significant underdog and conventional wisdom says this time around Usman just needs to NOT get kicked right in his head and he probably reclaims the title. Yet Usman has also reportedly been plagued by hand problems and he'll turn 36 years old a couple months after this PPV. Is it possible Edwards can get lightning to strike all over again? UFC 286 also amounts to the third time in about a month the fight company has asked fans to pay $80 to watch some fights. This time, it goes down just a week after Merab Dvalishvili turned in what will surely be one of the year's most dominating performances against Petr Yan for free (relatively speaking) on ESPN+. Will the people dig into their pockets one more time? Oh, and did you guys see Bellator? Or hear about it, at least? Usman Nurmagomedov retired Benson Henderson and Michael Page did something absolutely horre

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 literally bleated like goat. But IS he the GOAT now? Is he gonna fight Stipe next? How big a shadow does Francis Ngannou's absence cast and do we want to see that superfight even more now? Plus, in the oh, holy shit category, we also present to you: Alexa Grasso. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 with a new team and moving up a weight class will fare in this battle, but we do our best to prognosticate. Can Jones thrive in a division where he may not be able to play the bully? Has Gane shored-up his wrestling defense? Will the specter of Francis Ngannou hang over this thing like a shadow? Oh yeah, and the rest of the UFC 285 card is pretty great too ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 episode is presented in part by NordPVN. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the judges decision -- Volk 2, 3, & 5, dog? -- and then Dan Hooker had to go and accuse Makhachev of illegally using an IV to re-hydrate after the weigh-ins. So, sigh, that part is exhausting. But now it seems Volkanovski is set for a bout with new interim men's featherweight champ Yair Rodriguez, which will undoubtedly be very cool. This episode is presented in part by NordPVN. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It’s completel

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 superfight main event where Dana White can't remember one his champions names. So that's hilarious. Plus, Conor McGregor is back. He's just gonna ease his way back in (to the USADA testing pool and also to competition) by coaching TUF opposite Michael Chandler. This episode is presented in part by NordPVN. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad c

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 ticket. Plus, yet more layoffs in the MMA media world and Derrick Lewis finally meets up with Sergey Spivak. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Moreno gets the last laugh on Davey Figgs. Or does he? And Jose Aldo is going in the Hall, brother. This episode is presented in part by Nord VPN. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 especially hilarious when he's talking about Ngannou, though, right? With the real champ gone, the UFC will now stage Jon Jones' long-awaited heavyweight debut against Ciryl Gane for the vacant title. Hooray? This episode is brought to you in part by NordVPN. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/comain to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 talking about fights. Plus, there's still some stuff to unpack about Jake Paul signing with PFL for some MMA fights. Just, you know, do a find-and-replace in your head for "Strickland" every time we say "Gastelum." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 all, honestly. Plus, where do we see the UFC's product headed in general during 2023, perhaps the last year of its broadcast deal with ESPN? How are our personal fan relationships with this sport holding up? And what is in store for the Bellators, PFLs and One Championships of the world? All that and more on the first CME of 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 comain to get one free bonus month as well as their exclusive 30-day money back guarantee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the table this week. Also, what on earth is the UFC gonna do with Pimblett now that he has proven to be a star who is also maybe not that good at fighting? Plus, after the title fight draw, the promotion needed two random-ass light heavyweights to fight on a random-ass night in Brazil for the belt. So it picked Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill. 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 comain to get one free bonus month as wel

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 Krause, what you doin', baby? 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 comain to get one free bonus month as well as their exclusive 30-day money back guarantee. The CME is also present in part by the Draft Kings Sportsbook. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800- GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800- NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-52

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 forces game four against Kayla Harrison and the UFC is back with a pretty OK looking TV card this Saturday. 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 comain to get one free bonus month as well as their exclusive 30-day money back guarantee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 and walked away with the lopsided unanimous decision win, the giant check and the gold. As ever with Bellator, though, the question is: Will anybody care? Plus, Derrick Lewis got the tummy troubles and PFL will offer its first ever pay-per-view event. 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 comain to get one free bonus month as well as their exclusive 30-day money back guarantee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon

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 Reyes? 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 comain to get one free bonus month as well as their exclusive 30-day money back guarantee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 didn't think Esparza was going to beat Rose, now did we? So, maybe there's a chance? Plus Cool Dusty P and Mikie C. in a banger and ... Amanda Lemos upsets Marina Rodriguez at a Fight Night. This episode is brought to you in part by Draft Kings. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800- GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800- NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH/KS), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org (CT), 1-800

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 would have liked. Plus, Calvin Kattar's knee came apart and Jon Jones is suddenly in a big hurry to fight, huh? 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 comain to get one free bonus month as well as their exclusive 30-day money back guarantee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices