Best The Run It Back Mma Podcast Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 653: UFC at the White House? Wow, LAME! 1:11:35

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4d ago1:11:35

1:11:35

The doddering old man who also happens to be the most powerful person in the world made an offhand comment over the 4th of July weekend that he’d like to do some UFC fights at the White House. He wants 20,000 people there. He says Dana’s gonna take care of it. And look, we’d be inclined to dismiss this as the rumblings of a crazy old grandpa who mi…

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Episode 652: Ilia Topuria looks more and more like That Dude 1:01:18

13d ago1:01:18

1:01:18

Ilia Topuria called his shot — going out there at UFC 317 on Saturday and doing exactly what he said he was going to do to Charles Oliveira, exactly when he said he was going to do it. After a first-round knockout, Topuria claims the vacant lightweight title and becomes the 10th two-division champion in UFC history. He’s 28, undefeated, looks good …

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Episode 651: Jon Jones ‘retires’ the same week as UFC 317? Lawd! 1:13:41

20d ago1:13:41

1:13:41

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 ann…

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Episode 650: Accusations, innuendos and inferences 1:08:27

27d ago1:08:27

1:08:27

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-pre…

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Episode 649: Merab Dvalishvili: Little guy, big problem 1:07:14

1M ago1:07:14

1:07:14

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 …

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Episode 648: Are Kayla & Merab unbeatable at UFC 316? 1:06:27

1M ago1:06:27

1:06:27

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 interesti…

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Episode 647: Luckily, Merab has nine other toes 1:03:36

2M ago1:03:36

1:03:36

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…

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Episode 646: Jon Jones is back on his f*ckery 1:09:31

2M ago1:09:31

1:09:31

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 zoote…

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Episode 645: Let the dominoes fall after UFC 315 1:10:10

2M ago1:10:10

1:10:10

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 …

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Episode 644: Somehow Belal Muhammad is still fighting for respect 1:10:26

2M ago1:10:26

1:10:26

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 g…

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Episode 643: What are we gonna do with you, Ian Garry? 1:05:47

3M ago1:05:47

1:05:47

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 …

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Episode 642: Dana White got booed at Wrestlemania. What does it mean? 1:05:47

3M ago1:05:47

1:05:47

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…

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Episode 641: Volkamania runs wild once again! 1:10:34

3M ago1:10:34

1:10:34

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 star…

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Episode 640: Will Volk be champ again at UFC 314? 1:07:21

3M ago1:07:21

1:07:21

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 fa…

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Episode 639: Mexico can’t literally s*ck your b@lls, Joe Pyfer 1:08:20

3M ago1:08:20

1:08:20

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 …

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Episode 638: What is Tom Aspinall so excited about? 1:05:18

4M ago1:05:18

1:05:18

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 las…

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Episode 637: Was Magomed Ankalaev really that boring at UFC 313? 1:08:33

4M ago1:08:33

1:08:33

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 su…

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Episode 636: Alex Pereira faces the worst kind of fight at UFC 313 1:06:12

4M ago1:06:12

1:06:12

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 clean…

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Episode 635: Henry Cejudo gets the ol’ 3 Stooges (plus a ton of news!) 1:11:11

5M ago1:11:11

1:11:11

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 fo…

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Episode 634: What now, Jon Jones? WHAT NOW?? 1:08:07

5M ago1:08:07

1:08:07

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 Instagr…

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Episode 633: Sean Strickland turns into a pumpkin at UFC 312 1:05:10

5M ago1:05:10

1:05:10

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 quit…

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Episode 632: The UFC 312 rematch one man wanted 1:06:18

5M ago1:06:18

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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 t…

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CME Patreon Live Chat for 1/29/25 [For Free!] 1:02:49

6M ago1:02:49

1:02:49

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…

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Episode 631: Champs do champ shit at UFC 311 1:09:28

6M ago1:09:28

1:09:28

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 simi…

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Episode 630: Islam + Umar big favorites at UFC 311 1:08:48

6M ago1:08:48

1:08:48

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 Ts…

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Episode 629: UFC 2025 predictions 1:08:32

6M ago1:08:32

1:08:32

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 join…

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It's the 2024 CMEeeeees! 1:04:53

6M ago1:04:53

1:04:53

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/adchoicesBy Chad Dundas and Ben Fowlkes

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CME Patreon Live Chat for 12/18/24 1:12:25

7M ago1:12:25

1:12:25

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 Coving…

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Episode 628: Did Shavkat Rakhmonov get less scary at UFC 310? 1:08:10

7M ago1:08:10

1:08:10

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 go…

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Episode 627: UFC 310 is worth watching, actually 1:07:26

7M ago1:07:26

1:07:26

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 Riz…

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Episode 626: Is it curtains for Conor McGregor? 1:05:29

8M ago1:05:29

1:05:29

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 vic…

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Episode 625: Jake Paul & Jon Jones out here committing elder abuse 1:16:50

8M ago1:16:50

1:16:50

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 ho…

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Episode 624: Jones. Stipe. Tyson. Paul. One weekend? 1:13:13

8M ago1:13:13

1:13:13

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. …

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Episode 623: UFC can’t keep sending Alex Pereira ‘You up?’ texts 1:00:15

8M ago1:00:15

1:00:15

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, t…

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Episode 622: MMA eats our heroes 1:06:11

9M ago1:06:11

1:06:11

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…

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Episode 621: Big Fran back! UFC 308 next! 1:07:37

9M ago1:07:37

1:07:37

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 …

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Episode 620: Can Francis Ngannou come up big for PFL? 1:08:20

9M ago1:08:20

1:08:20

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…

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Episode 619: Alex Pereira saves the day (again!) 1:08:21

9M ago1:08:21

1:08:21

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 an…

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Episode 618: Alex Pereira tempts the gods at UFC 307 1:01:27

10M ago1:01:27

1:01:27

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’…

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Episode 617: We came, we Sphered, we conquered 1:14:21

10M ago1:14:21

1:14:21

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…

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Episode 616: UFC 306 at Sphere! 1:09:41

10M ago1:09:41

1:09:41

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 “dif…

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CME Patreon Live Chat for 9/4/24 59:45

10M ago59:45

59:45

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: …

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Episode 615: All hail the Fighting Nerds! 1:11:23

11M ago1:11:23

1:11:23

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…

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Episode 614: Don’t doubt Dricus 1:10:46

11M ago1:10:46

1:10:46

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 t…

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Episode 613: UFC 305 is getting the high hat 1:09:55

11M ago1:09:55

1:09:55

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 be…

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Episode 612: Topuria vs. Holloway is fire emoji 1:09:43

11M ago1:09:43

1:09:43

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’…

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Episode 611: The name, remembered 1:10:23

12M ago1:10:23

1:10:23

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 w…

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Episode 610: UFC 304 preview + Jake Paul, future champion? 1:16:14

12M ago1:16:14

1:16:14

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 int…

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Episode 609: Did Jon Jones lose a finger? At the airport? 1:13:39

12M ago1:13:39

1:13:39

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 Jon…

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Episode 608: Was Diaz vs. Masvidal actually good?!? 1:12:18

1y ago1:12:18

1:12:18

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 overwhe…