About
So, what exactly is the CME?
Since its humble beginnings in 2012, the Co-Main Event Podcast has provided listeners with the independent discourse they crave about the crazy, dog-eat-dog world of mixed martial arts fighting. Each week, veteran MMA journalists Chad Dundas and Ben Fowlkes put their own unique spin on the headlines, providing professional insight, uncensored opinions and terrible dad jokes for a diverse, worldwide audience.
The show isn’t for everybody, but the people who do like it seem to like it a LOT. Be advised, however: the CME is for grown folks only. It contains adult themes and copious swears. Don’t listen to this shit at work or in front of your kids unless you strap on some headphones first. Also, if you happen to be a corporate stooge, a tool of the man or a mark-ass buster, you’re probably not going to like it. Best you save us all the trouble and spend your precious listening time elsewhere.
But if you think you’ve got the guts, we invite you to join the coolest, smartest, best dressed (fine, we’re just guessing about that last part) group of listeners in all of MMA. By and large, we are a supportive, like-minded group all about building community through talking fights (and other nerd shit). Who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy yourself so much you’ll even join the CME Patreon, where there are hours of extra content each week. No pressure.
Everybody, meet Ben and Chad …
Chad Dundas
Co-host
Chad Dundas is the author of the acclaimed novels Champion of the World (2016) and The Blaze (2020), as well as the developer of Dundasso, one of the world’s deadliest martial arts. Since 2001, he’s worked as a sportswriter for outlets such as ESPN.com, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, NBC Sports and CagePotato.com. He’s also pretty old, has a bunch of kids and thinks today’s rap music sounds like a bunch of noise. About 15 years ago, while pursuing his graduate degree in English-creative writing, he met Ben Fowlkes. They started a podcast together and the rest, as they say, is the rest. Chad lives in Missoula, Montana with his wife and all those damn kids. Help him out and buy his books from your favorite retailer right here.
Ben Fowlkes
Co-host
Ben Fowlkes is a sports writer who has covered mixed martial arts professionally since 2006. During that time he’s worked for The Athletic, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Fight Magazine, MMAFighting.com, and a bunch of other publications and websites. You don’t really want him to list them all. His fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2015 and some other literary mags you don’t read, and he got a notable mention in the back of Best American Sports Writing one year. He’s still a little salty about that one. He received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana, which is where he met Chad Dundas, who drove around listening to sports talk radio all the time but who otherwise seemed like a decent dude. He lives in Missoula, Montana, with his two daughters.
Our solemn vows …
Every show must have a code. These are the solemn vows of the Co-Main Event Podcast, and they are nonnegotiable:
- The CME will happen once a week, every week.
Exceptions to this rule include childbirth, poorly planned family trips, sickness and terrible technological disasters.
- The CME won't interview fighters.
Or anyone else, for that matter. If that’s the kind of talk you’re looking for there are numerous podcasts in the MMA space that will gladly fulfill your needs. Most of them, actually. Just not this one.
- This shit only gonna be an hour.
Give or take.
- The CME won't be censored.
Ben and Chad understand you come here for unfettered discourse and pledge to never allow said discourse to become, uh, fettered.
- The CME won’t do fight picks and won’t discuss rankings.
You know, within reason.
Support the CME
With a helping hand from you, the discourse is free and the corporate fat cats are kept away from the door. We love you for that.
Patrons get exclusive access to:
Livestream events
Audio extras
CME Power Hour
CME Movie Club
Drape those old bones in some CME merchandise …
Show those around you that you’re a not-to-be-messed-with, third-dan Dundasso master, or perhaps that you have a very refined taste in tobacco products that are definitely not for kids. Straight up repping your fav MMA-themed podcast is also an option.
Read a book, if you nasty
“Two deadly acts of arson, over a decade apart bind this mystery of an army veteran’s return home. In Chad Dundas’ assured hands, one man’s search for answers makes for a lyrical, riveting meditation on memory.”
— Entertainment Weekly, on The Blaze