The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

The UFC is coming off a fairly anonymous Fight Night in Macau last weekend and is headed into a fairly anonymous Fight Night back at the Apex this weekend. And yet, we’re just two weeks away from the big White House spectacular, and the UFC also has Conor McGregor’s alleged return scheduled for later in the summer.

Look, it’s no secret there has been some fairly vocal discontent among a significant portion of UFC fans lately. Does summer 2026 shape up as a make-or-break season for the UFC? And if so, will the guys who own the company even notice?
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Dana White’s everywhere right now. Time Magazine. Rolling Stone. NPR. The New Yorker. Wait, what? The New Yorker? Believe it.

Leading up to the UFC’s Big Boy Birthday Bash at the White House, Dana’s on a media tour with the actual, legitimate mainstream media. Not surprisingly, he's spent a LOT of that time talking about himself and his very special relationship with ya boi D-Tiddy, and not much time at all talking about the actual fights or the fighters. No surprise there.

But, wait, did Dana seriously just find out THIS WEEK during his talk with New Yorker editor David Remnick that there had previously been sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson? That might be the wildest part of this whole thing.
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Most Valuable Promotions put on its inaugural MMA event on Netflix last weekend. If we’re being honest, it was a lot. The mismatch-filled main card played out exactly according to chalk. Mike Perry beat Nate Diaz into a living death before their fight was stopped due to cuts. Big Fran KOed a puffed-up light heavyweight in Philipe Lins after a few minutes of toying with his food. And that much-ballyhooed main event between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano? Hoo boy. We kinda knew it was going to be bad, but we didn’t know it was gonna be THAT bad.

But perhaps what mattered more than the outcome of the actual fights was the event itself. A lot of people seemed to watch, and while the live broadcast was certainly not without its flaws, it also wasn’t terrible. Dare we say it suggests MVP MMA has a positive future? You know, if they ever want to do another show.
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He did it again, brother. This crazy MFer Sean Strickland once again went out there in a championship fight he had no business winning and walked away with the belt. This time, he took the UFC middleweight strap off the previously undefeated Khamzat Chimaev. Strickland needed a little help from Chimaev himself to pull it off, as the now former champ fought one of the weirdest title fights we’ve seen in a long time, following up an absolutely dominant first round with a disastrous second round before bouncing back to spend the rest of the fight failing to utilize his best skills.

Anyway, Strickland is now a two-time, two-time UFC champion, which leaves us all at a bit of a loss about how to even think about the guy.

Now, Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira? That was a fight. That was a fight right there.

Plus, Ronda Rousey is gonna fight Gina Carano at MVP this weekend on Netflix. We’re gonna watch. Are you?
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We’re not totally sure how, but Sean Strickland plans to bring a gun to New Jersey for UFC 328. I mean, is he driving? Does he know a guy he can call when he lands in Newark who will meet him on a darkened street corner and hand him a suspiciously heavy-looking brown paper bag? Anyway, if he does manage to keep that thang on him in Brick City, he says he'll use it to shoot UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev if Chimaev should try any shady shit outside the cage. For Strickland, it’s probably either that (commit cold-blooded, premeditated murder) or attempt to jab his way to a professional but underwhelming unanimous decision victory while trying not to let Chimaev crush his fucking face like he did Bobby Knuckles.

Look, we’re not saying Strickland is the UFC’s answer to Travis Bickle from “Taxi Driver,” but we’re not NOT saying that either.

Plus, Carlos Prates did terrible things to Jack Della Maddalena. Were they terrible enough to cut the line for a welterweight title shot? And could we be witnessing the emergence of the THIRD kind of UFC heavyweight division?
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