The Co-Main Event MMA Podcast

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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A little less than a year ago, Jack Della Maddalena was riding high, fresh off scoring the UFC welterweight title from Belal Muhammad at UFC 315. Unfortunately, like they used to say in VH1’s Behind the Music: it was all about to come crashing down. After getting summarily handled by Islam Makhachev in his first title defense at UFC 322, Della Maddalena heads home to the Land of Oz this weekend for a Fight Night main event in what promises to be a good-ass scrap with Carlos Prates. If you’re Jackie Flat Nose here, this seems like one you want to win in order to preserve … your status as an elite welterweight? Your good name? Any chance of ever working your way back into a title fight? Something or other.

Plus, Aljamain Sterling refuses to give the UFC what it wants. And Tai Tuivasa is *rubs eyes in disbelief* a FAVORITE this weekend?!?!
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They put on WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas over the weekend, and the reaction from at least some wrestling fans has been: “Fuck TKO.” As in, we mean they were actually, literally chanting “Fuck TKO” in the arena during the post-show. Yeah, it seems like the parent company of WWE and the UFC isn’t super popular with either fan base. And maybe they deserve that. Maybe they’re sucking all the life out of both these products on some soulless cash-grab shit, without any thought for the future, and where the only barometer for how things are going is how much money the already super-rich ownership group can shove in their pockets.

But, you know, who are we to judge? We’re just the people whose money that is.

Plus, Brock Lesnar left his gloves in the ring at WM42. That could be a wrap for The Beast. And does Mike Malott need the help of CME Consulting Services?
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Somehow, Carlos Ulberg won the UFC light heavyweight title on one goddamn leg. Not sure we’ve ever seen anything quite like that. It was an all-time great championship finish. Now, however, at least some of the public discourse has pivoted to whether Jiri Prochazka basically let him off the hook, taking it easier than he should have right up until he very generously walked face-first into a left hook. That doesn’t totally feel fair to Ulberg (winning the belt on one bum wheel should probably earn you more credit) but also, yeah, he’s clearly hurt and even as we speak Dana White is almost certainly sticking the “Interim Title Fight” magnet to that big whiteboard on the wall of his war room.

Plus, Cub Swanson got the rare storybook ending and, sigh, seems like Josh Hokit is totally a thing now.
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