The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

It’s happening. The Paramount+ Era is upon us. What surprises are in store? We’ll find out on Saturday, as UFC 324 goes down, featuring the interim lightweight championship fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett. How does Pimblett (more than a 2-to-1 favorite) beat Gaethje? We’re not totally sure, but maybe that’s why we’re dumb podcast hosts and the oddsmakers are the oddsmakers.

Plus, Kayla Harrison’s pile-of-trash neck forced her off this card, which was kind of a big loss. And Conor McGregor says his UFC contract is “void,” since pay-per-view doesn’t exist anymore. Could he be… right?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just about 10 days before UFC 324, and oddsmakers still see Paddy Pimblett as a bit more than a 2-to-1 favorite to win the interim lightweight title over Justin Gaethje. I mean, damn. Does that seem right to you guys? Honestly, it feels super weird to us, but considering how bad we are at betting and how good oddsmakers are at, ahem, making odds, perhaps they are right? And if they are, are we all truly prepared for a world where Pimblett is the (interim) lightweight champ?

Plus, Gaethje has got a crater-sized sore on the side of his neck he swears isn’t staph, and Trevor Wittman is saying if they can’t win this one, Gaethje might as well retire. So … uh … is this about to be depressing as hell?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, 2026. You gonna suck as bad as 2025 did? Not to start things on a pessimistic note, but if we had to guess … you know what, never mind. As it pertains to this show, 2026 means a lot of things — perhaps most importantly that the UFC has officially disembarked from ESPN+ into the unknown waters of Paramount+. The first Premium Live Event is just a couple of weeks away, and we all still have a lot of questions. So, on the first show of the new year, we try to answer as many of them as we can.

Plus, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier try to monetize these amazing brands they’ve built by going on a Russian reality show; somehow Jake Paul is still talking shit through a busted jaw; and Paddy Pimblett got tapped out in a grappling tournament just a couple of weeks before he’s supposed to fight for the UFC interim lightweight title. Sooo … is all publicity really good publicity?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Year of Our Lord 2025 was a weird one in MMA. Complete dogshit for the heavyweight division, obviously. You started the year with Dana White swearing up and down that he was going to get Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall done, only to have Jones quit the sport to monetize this amazing brand he’d built — then come crawling back as soon as he found out about the White House fight card. When they finally did set up a heavyweight title fight for Gas Hands Tommy, Ciryl Gane went two knuckles deep in Aspinall’s eye … which obviously seems to have negatively affected Aspinall’s career more than Gane’s.

But it wasn’t all bad. In the spring, fighters started to get that sweet, sweet class-action settlement money. By the end, Merab and Islam were the consensus fighters of the year. The UFC wrapped up the ESPN era and is now on to murkier waters with Paramount.

Oh, and what’s this shit with Ilia Topuria? Not great!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Petr Yan showed up looking shockingly prepared for everything Merab Dvalishvili had planned on Saturday at UFC 323. Yan had the takedown defense. Yan had the stifling striking game. Yan worked the head and the body as well as he possibly could have. And perhaps most impressive of all, Yan had the cardio — taking over down the stretch, during what is normally Merab Time — to secure a surprising victory for the men’s bantamweight title in a fight-of-the-year–candidate thriller.

In doing so, Yan put himself in position to begin chiseling out a legacy as one of the all-time greats. What now, though? An immediate rematch? The winner of O’Malley vs. Yadong? We’ll find out soon.

Elsewhere on the card, Joshua Van captured the flyweight title after Alexandre Pantoja's elbow got its whole shit broke. And the ESPN Era is about to end in the most fitting way possible … with an Apex show headlined by Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices