Honestly, Nassourdine Imavov is pretty legit. He’s 16-4 (1) overall, riding a three-fight win streak and heads into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event against Caio Borralho fresh off a February victory over Israel Adesanya. He was the UFC’s No. 1 middleweight contender until voters recently had to make room for Dricus Du Plessis. So, why does nobody seem to know (or care) who he is?
Good news for Imavov: if he beats Borralho this weekend, he’ll likely be one of only two men in line for a shot at newly crowned champ Khamzat Chimaev. Would a highlight-reel finish in Paris finally be enough to make fans remember his name?
Also on this episode: you guys go hard on Luke Rockhold for getting folded up like a lawn chair by Darren Till, the Bigi Boy wins Dirty Boxing’s pizza box-ass belt and Jon Jones is [checks notes] legally vindicated! For now.
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1:04:53
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1:04:53
Episode 659: Raja Jackson goes nuts at pro wrestling show
So, Quinton Jackson’s son went on a crazy, uh, rampage at an independent pro wrestling event over the weekend. Raja Jackson — a person we’d barely ever heard of before — got into a backstage beef with a wrestler named Syko Stu and then jumped in the ring during the guy’s match and damn near beat him to death. It was bizarre and, honestly, it made us feel a little sick to watch it. Now, the whole thing has gone viral, due in part to Jackson livestreaming it on his own channel. So, ugh.
Also, we take listener questions about Johnny Walker weirding his way to victory over Zhang Mingyang, Aljo beating up the ghost of Brian Ortega and some extended fallout from Khamzat Chimaev being your new UFC middleweight champ.
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1:00:51
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1:00:51
Episode 658: Khamzat smesh? Or Khamzat smush?
He done did it. Khamzat Chimaev basically pitched a perfect game against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319, making it look EASY en route to one of the more lopsided decision wins you will ever witness in a championship fight. DDP showed up looking uniquely ill-equipped to stop Chimaev’s all-out takedown assault. And Ya Boi Borz? He looked so dominant people got mad at him for not doing more.
So, now that the long-heralded Chimaev Era is finally underway at 185 pounds ... shouldn’t we be more excited?
Plus, how does Michael Page keep doing this? And where are we at with Aaron Pico now?
Also, what do you get when you cross one of light heavyweight’s most dangerous knockout artists with the guy who routinely gets knocked out in the funniest possible way? You get UFC Fight Night: Johnny Walker vs. Zhang Mingyang.
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1:05:23
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1:05:23
Episode 657: UFC’s move to Paramount could change everything (or not!)
Here’s something nobody saw coming: the UFC is taking its talents to Paramount. Not Netflix. Not re-upping with ESPN. Not even a late play from Amazon or Apple.
In a staggering seven-year, $7.7 billion deal, the UFC agrees to keep its programming mostly in one piece (thank you, MMA Gods!). It will stream exclusively on Paramount+, with certain events simulcast on CBS.
The biggest kicker here is that, despite some conflicting reports, the traditional pay-per-view model might be going away. So … is it possible … being a UFC fan is about to get cheaper?
That would be weird!
Lots of ins and outs to discuss here. This deal seems great for the UFC, maybe good for Paramount, possibly good for fans … but, once again, potentially extremely shitty for fighters. Plus, what would a UFC schedule even look like without PPV?
And did Paramount perhaps vastly overpay for UFC broadcast rights in order to appease the President of the United States?
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1:01:26
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1:01:26
Episode 656: Every UFC fighter, ranked? What could go wrong?
The big homies at Tapology this month revealed their own new computerized ranking system for MMA fighters — and, friends, they went big. The new Tapology rankings don’t just break down the Top 10 like your standard media rankings or the Top 15 like the UFC “rankings” do. Nope, they rank EVERY UFC FIGHTER IN EVERY WEIGHT CLASS. Can you imagine the potentially hilarious implications?
Anyway, Very Serious Journalist Ben Fowlkes caught up with Tapology’s Gregory Saks to talk about developing the new system (sounds like it was not easy) for an article on the Uncrowned. This week on the CME, we discuss.
Plus, it sucks to get cut from the UFC after a win (sorry, Martin Buday), Hector Lombard vs. Cheick Kongo in pillow fighting, and what’s with WWE bringing back Brock Lesnar not too long after he was named in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit?
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An irreverent and unscripted look at the week's mixed martial arts news from longtime MMA journalists Ben Fowlkes and Chad Dundas. Topics include the latest happenings in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
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