A few years ago it might have seemed farfetched that one day we'd be sitting here spending the majority of an entire episode of the Proper talking about Bare Knuckle FC and a Jake Paul fight, but that's the reality of where combat sports is at the moment. The big headlines for the weekend were: Mike Perry dismantling Thiago Alves in a minute flat at Knucklemania IV and Paul's fight against Mike Tyson being sanctioned as an actual, real professional boxing match (sort of) by the Texas athletic...

In all the hubbub over UFC 300, most of us missed the juicy detail that Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos was down there sitting cageside on the elbow of Ari Emanuel during the event. You know who didn't miss it? David Spade. The UFC OG celebrity himself posted a pic on his socials blaming "Ted" for blocking his view of the octagon. So, that's interesting. Just a few weeks after Netflix acquires broadcast rights for WWE, there's "Ted" checking out the merchandise at the UFC's biggest event of the...

Well, don't we all feel stupid now? After weeks of dumping on the UFC 300 card for not living up to our expectations, it finally happened on Saturday and it ... was ... bonkers. You had Max Holloway put on a performance for the ages against Justin Gaethje in a fight that more than showcased the BMF status of both guys. You had Alex Pereira give Herb Dean the ol' "Not now, Herb!" hand gesture and go straight from a low blow to a highlight reel knockout of Jamahal Hill. Plus, Weili Zhang...

Saturday night, the greatest fight card in the history of fight cards comes at us from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Or, at least, that's what the UFC wants us to think about UFC 300. Honestly, the card isn't too bad, with two actual championship fights and one "championship fight." Your main event, the light heavyweight title (unification, sort of?) bout between Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill will be a fun punchy-kicky sort of a deal. Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan has been somewhat anticipated....

Well, Chris Weidman can't very well retire after that one, can he? We had hoped perhaps Saturday's Fight Night bout against Bruno Silva would be the former middleweight champion's last but ... not only did he "win," but the circumstances were so weird that Weidman pretty much has to come back for at least one more. After 12 and a half minutes of foul-filled action, where at times he looked much improved and at times looked like he was about to get spectacularly knocked out, Weidman pulled off...

The years-long staring contest between the UFC and some of its former fighters is over. The class action antitrust lawsuit between the two parties ended last week with the MMA company agreeing to pay a $335 million settlement to the aggrieved fighters. That's great for the individual fighters, most of whom will now get a chunk of change. Maybe not so great for MMA at large, as the bigger picture structural and competitive changes that might have come along with the lawsuit will likely now not...

After showing up to the "Road House" premiere looking like he was in a *cough* heightened state of awareness *cough* Conor McGregor once again iterated that he wants to return to the UFC to finish out the final two fights on his contract. So. Conor McGregor wants to fight. The UFC seems to want Conor McGregor to fight. Michael Chandler DAMN SURE wants to fight. What's the hold up? Plus, what's up with Nate Diaz suddenly being all nice and shit? Plus, we still haven't found something that can...

If Sean O'Malley needed a statement win to prove he is perhaps the class of the UFC's growing group of young stars, he got one Saturday, essentially pitching a perfect game against Marlon "Chito" Vera at UFC 299. O'Malley kept Chito at the end of his reach, dictating the pace and the terms of engagement and the best thing you could say about Vera by the end is that he's one tough son of a bitch. Plus, how about that Cool Dusty P, eh? Yaaaay. And, oh yeah, Francis Ngannou got terribly knocked...

Sean O'Malley looks to avenge his funky 2020 injury loss to Chito Vera on Saturday at UFC 299. Kinda weird to think that we already consider O'Malley one of the UFC's most established stars and champions when in actuality he'll be gunning for his first successful title defense this weekend. It seems like a pretty good scrap, but make no mistake, UFC 299 has a lot more going for it than just O'Malley vs. Chito. Dustin Poirier vs. Benoît Saint Denis, the debut of Michael Venom Page, Curtis...

Brian Ortega injured himself before his co-main event fight against Yair Rodriguez even started on Saturday, appearing to roll his ankle during Bruce Buffer’s fighter introductions. Then Ortega got lit up like a Roman candle by Rodriguez in round one. Got dropped. Got pounded on. Got his whole shit broke, basically. Somehow, though, Ortega rebounded in rounds two and three and ended up actually winning this thing with a gnarly arm triangle choke in the third. Damn! Add to this already...

Everything came up Ilia Topuria on Saturday at UFC 298, as the 27-year-old Spaniard fulfilled his self-avowed destiny with a thunderous second-round knockout of longstanding men’s featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. The outcome was bittersweet for longtime fans, signaling perhaps both the end of one great champion’s reign and the emergence of a bold new successor. Hold on, though, are we shoveling dirt onto Volk’s grave a little prematurely? And with no obvious No. 1 contender,...

Alexander Volkanovski fully embraced his old man status headed into Saturday's UFC 298, in a legitimately hilarious internet video that showed off his stellar general acting chops and comedic timing. Still, that acceptance doesn't take away from the harrowing actual statistics about what happens to UFC champions after they turn 35. Add in recent concerns over his drinking habits between fights and our nagging memories of him getting KOed by Islam Makhachev his last time out and we are perhaps...

Got to admire Renato Moicano’s entrepreneurial spirit. Here’s “Money” Moicano nearly 10 years and 15 fights into his UFC career (he’s 18-5-1 as professional after Saturday’s win over Drew Dober) and it feels like he’s just now spreading his wings to show us the beautiful butterfly he’s become. And, friends, it is weird. After dusting Dober in the co-main event of the weekend’s Fight Night card, ya boi “Money” jumped on the mic and said, among other things, he was going to go home and...

It was a triple-whammy announcement from Dana White last week, adding Kayla Harrison to UFC 300, giving her a fight with Holly Holm and having it at women's bantamweight. Clearly Harrison's involvement in the UFC's gala milestone pay-per-view is a big deal. But how big? Does she really deserve to be such an overwhelming favorite? And is she really going to make 135 pounds? We have questions. Plus, after saying what we were all thinking on his podcast last week, Jon Anik apologized if he...

Dricus du Plessis beat Sean Strickland for the middleweight title, Raquel Pennington cashed-in on the women's bantamweight strap on her 18th fight in the UFC and the company announced Frankie Edgar was going in the hall of fame. We really wish that's what people were going to remember about UFC 297, but honestly? We'll probably remember it as an event where people said a bunch of dumb shit and then many of the reactions to that shit were even dumber. And that's sad, man. That's a sad place...

Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis are set to take it to the cage on Saturday at UFC 297, instead of fighting all over the damn arena like Mankind and HHH in 1997 or whatever. The champion probably still needs to prove to us that his win over Israel Adesanya last Sept. wasn't a fluke. Can a victory here do that? Meanwhile, DDP is out to show he can win a title in a third organization -- and that he can either stop Strickland quickly or withstand the champ's pressure style without gassing...

Friends, the holiday doldrums are over and this weekend the UFC kicks off its sure to be relentless 2024 live event schedule with a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker. Maybe not the sexiest main event, but the card isn't too bad, all things considered. In addition to that, we take your listener mail questions, which piled up on us a bit during the break. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last UFC event of 2023 left us with a lot to talk about. Leon Edwards and Alexandre Pantoja both successfully defended their titles. Up-and-comers Shavkat Rakhmonov and Paddy Pimblett got big wins. We saw at least one potential knockout of the year contender. Oh yeah, and Ian Garry, Sean Strickland and DDP all caused spectacles outside the cage. With Noted Fight Fans Kid Rock and Donald Trump sitting cageside, the whole thing was kind of a microcosm of what the UFC is all about right...

It's been a year of upheaval in the UFC. All told, the company has crowned 11 champions in 2023--with UFC 296's twin-bill of title fights still on deck this Saturday. Can Colby Covington finally breakthrough and become undisputed welterweight champion with a win over Leon Edwards? Can Brandon Royval unseat newly-minted men's flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja? Oddsmakers say these fights will be close. Will it continue to be a bad year for sitting champions? Plus, big fights for Shavkat...

It's possible there has never been a person better suited to bare knuckle boxing than Mike Perry. Here he was again last weekend against Eddie Alvarez, seeming to wager that he was willing to go out there and accept more punishment than the other guy in pursuit of something called the "King of Violence" belt--and he was right. Perry again emerged victorious after Alvarez's corner stopped the fight after the second round. All hail the king or whatever. Plus, Arman Tsarukyan looked dominant...

On the heels of last week's PFL championships and in advance of this week's UFC Fight Night, we open it up to listener questions. What's at stake between Beneil Dariush and Arman Tsarukyan this weekend? Why don't we give Miesha Tate more credit as a pioneer of women's MMA? Is Stipe still relevant? And is PFL fumbling the bag? These topics and more from you, the beloved listeners of the CME. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was funny and fitting that Bellator 301 crowned two new champions and advanced one fighter to the finals of the company's ongoing grand prix just a couple days before we got final confirmation it had been acquired by the PFL. At least for now, the PFL says it will continue running something called the Bellator International Champions Series but, come on, we know how these things go. This week, we discuss the end(ish?) of Bellator and what kind of player this could now make the PFL on the...

We crowned two new champions on Saturday at UFC 295–and neither fight took that long. On a night full of KOs at Madison Square Garden, Alex Pereira emerged with the light heavyweight championship (his second in two different divisions) and Tom Aspinall became the new interim heavyweight titlist. So … the question remains … just how mad is Jon Jones about this? Yeah, he tried to be all nice when he congratulated Aspinal via social media, but you just KNOW it’s burning him up inside that these...

We’re sad that Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic is off pretty much indefinitely due to Jones’ torn pec, but UFC 295 still looks pretty OK. It’s admittedly a little top heavy – no need to stack the card when you thought you had JBJ vs. Stipe, eh? – but the revamped main and co-main still look pretty cool. Jiri Prochazka returns from the worst shoulder injury in the history of shoulders to take on former middleweight champ Alex Pereira for the vacant light heavyweight title. Tom Aspinall and Sergei...