151 Comments
Jan 9Edited

Good afternoon Ariel, GC, New York Ric, Frank, and the rest of the gang, from freezing Wales, UK.

Wrestling has been the dominant martial art in MMA for many years, but looking at the UFC rankings today, currently there are 4 out of 7 male Champs who are primarily strikers - O'Malley, Leon, Sean, and Pereira.

So, with that in mind, did you read 'How to be a WAG?' and what did you think?

SHOUT OUT TO THE YOUTUBE CHAT!

Gav

Expand full comment

LMAO

Expand full comment

I hope he reads this and answers but I have a feeling he won't.

Expand full comment

Good day Ariel! With the Royal Rumble and WM40 approaching fast. Who do you think is going to win at the RR and who is main eventing night 1 and night 2 at WM? and what are your predictions?

Expand full comment

Good day Ariel and the crew, I will skip the pleasantries because I have an extremely serious question that needs everyone's immediate input.

When sharing a pizza with someone else, after you each take your first slice on your respective side of the pizza and eat it, when you go in for the next slice, are you each obligated to take a slice next to the first slice you took, or can you go wandering around the pie and take your next slice from anywhere?

The fat guy in me wants to take a slice from anywhere, but I think proper pizza etiquette is following the pizza path you started. I wonder what y'all think.

Happy New Year (if it's not too late to say that by now), and thanks so much to everyone for putting on great shows every week.

Expand full comment

If it's a tavern cut (squares) and you take all the corner pieces, you're a scumbag. You need to follow the path. If you make it to the next corner it's yours, but if you're taking all the limited quantity type of pieces for yourself, then you are very selfish and that's the tip of the iceberg.

Expand full comment

Take from anywhere. What if you're at a work event and we are stood on opposite sides of the table. And you take first. What, I have to walk around the table? Get out of here. I'm taking the big slice.

Expand full comment

Thank you, I realize my question wasn't clear enough. I was saying, if you both have taken a slice from opposite ends of the pizza, is it rude if you reach over and take your next slice from their side of the pizza?

Expand full comment

Oh, well that changes things. It would certainly be sus af.

Expand full comment

Why is Aspinall going after the fighters and not the matchmakers?

Expand full comment

Trying to generate buzz to give the matchmakers no choice

Expand full comment

Hi Ariel,

Did you watch "The Iron Claw?" And if you did what did you think about it?

What is your favorite pro wresling movie and what is your favorite pro wrestling documentary?

Expand full comment

Wrestling with Shadows

Expand full comment

Helwani, have you been busy digging tunnels under the mma hour studio? Serious question, when do you think your Israel will stop killing innocent people? Do you think thousands more children have to be massacred and butchered and left orphaned before it stops? Thank you Ariel, big fan of the show!

Expand full comment

Hello Ariel. I heard an interview with Ali Abdulaziz this week and it was mentioned that he wants to be nicer this year and he will only forever beef with Conor leaving you room to get back on the good side. Any chance you guys make up this year

Expand full comment

Ariel do you think we'll see Justin v Max to defend the BMF title at UFC 300? I know it sounds silly but with most of the champions not available I could see this as another promotional tool for this event to beef the card up. Thoughts?

Expand full comment

Happy New Year MMA Hour Fam!

I have a friend that loves to talk 'PPV buys'. Based on interviews I've seen with promoters and insiders in the sport, seems like the validity of these numbers are always called into question. To me, this doesn't seem like the best gauge of interest (or views) for a fight.

What, if any, is a reputable source for this information? How are these calculated?

Does the crew think this is somewhat of an antiquated business model? Especially considering the unresolvable issue of piracy?

Much love from Colorado!

Expand full comment

Hello team,

My New Year's Resolution is to ask questions for On The Nose. If you guys can give us eight hours of great content each week, we can do better than UFC 300 queries and your favourite microwavable meals.

Question one: Site fees.

I completely understand why somewhere it's illegal to be gay would need to shell out billions of dollars to attract sports to their country but using the UK, or wider Europe as an example, no local government is going to pay for a niche sport to fill an arena that's full the other six days of the week with concerts and events anyway. So other than the Middle East, who offers the UFC site fees?

Are site fees paid in the US and if so, why and by who?

The venue owners themselves, which seems like an odd business model, or by the State, which again feels weird to have taxpayers funding fight events?

Finally, how much would a site fee (again outwith Saudi Arabia) be?

Expand full comment

The other day I went down a rabbit hole of some of the earlier MMA hour shows in your second stint.

Fun seeing how much GC has also grown in this spotlight as the baby face. I’m currently watching the show from September 29 , 2021 and seeing how many people in the live chat saying “Who the f**ck is that guy” when GC’s segment was on😂😂, to him becoming one of the biggest stars in MMA social media!

Let’s take a second to give GC his flowers.

Expand full comment

I have friend's who don't even watch MMA sending me GC memes, that's how you know you made it

Expand full comment

Ariel! - The Adesanya x Pereira 3 Fight is an absolute MUST for the Main Event at UFC 300, rightf? If built correctly this Rivalry will go down as THE GREATEST trilogy ever in the UFC, its already close. If Izzy wins, OMG, now he is also a two weight champ and with 2 W's over Poatan, however if Poatan wins convincingly he slams the door on the Rivalry ...OH MY GOD...THE STAKES! I am so excited for this. Thoughts? Love the show, shout out to the crew!

Expand full comment

If Izzy really is open to returning at UFC 300 then I think Plan A would be him challenging Du Plessis for the middleweight championship. That rivalry was white-hot and never had a resolution. If Du Plessis becomes champion next Saturday and calls out Izzy, that fight would be absolutely massive. Of course, this would require (1) DDP to beat Strickland and (2) to come out of that fight healthy enough to turn around in less than 3 months, both of which are far from guaranteed. Pereira vs. Adesanya 3 or Strickland vs. Adesanya 2 (if Sean beats DDP) are both worthy backup plans.

Expand full comment

Dear Lord Jacobs,

Do you think it improves judging to change scoring to a round by round majority instead of total fight majority? As an example, a round one scorecard of 10-9, 10-9, 9-10 gets officially scored as 10-9 due to the majority vote. Same if it’s a 10-9, 10-9, 10-8 vote. In the end there is one final card with three voted on rounds to determine the winner. GC, does this interest you for fun round and fight winner parlays?

Changes the kai Kara France Albazi decision and the recent shevchenko-Grasso debacle.

Expand full comment

Hello Ariel & Team,

I recently made the mistake of inviting my neighbor over for a UFC night. He was not a combat sports fan at all, but was a self proclaimed expert in "street fighting" because he said he used to do Krav Maga. It immediately became clear to me that my neighbor's fight IQ was lower than most people's grandmas. For example, in one fight someone was trapped in a deep guillotine and my neighbor says "Why doesn't he just punch him?" He would make remarks like this throughout all the fights, providing his uneducated advice on what he'd do in various situations.

I found myself biting my tongue and regretting ever inviting him over. I find it difficult to watch combat sports with people who don't for this reason. My question is, have you or the crew had similar experiences with mma newbies? And how did you deal with it?

God Bless and Happy New Year.

Expand full comment

Hey Ariel and crew after watching Eddie’s interview and him starting with a peanut butter protein shake after his fast, what would be your dream meal after a 72hour fast

Expand full comment

Hey Ariel and the team. Greetings from Miami, where I was over the moon about how stacked the UFC 299 card is, but am now am wishing it were just a little bit less stacked after seeing the exorbitant opening ticket prices.

Anyway, it'll be fascinating to see what Francis does next after the Joshua fight. If he shocks the world again and beats Joshua, then a heavyweight championship fight against the winner of Fury/Usyk would clearly seem to be the next move. But if not, then I think it's likely his next fight will be in the PFL in December on PPV, as Donn Davis had indicated on your show would happen.

The problem is that there are only a handful of heavyweights in MMA other than Francis with any name value, and they're all currently signed to UFC. So I believe there's only one fight to make for Francis in PFL, and that is against "The King" Gordon Ryan. Gordon has previously shown a reluctance to fight in MMA, as his focus is to continue to grow jiu jitsu, but this would be the ultimate opportunity for him to achieve goal, akin to what Royce Gracie did at UFC 1. What are your thoughts on a potential Ngannou-Gordon Ryan superfight in PFL, and do you think it's realistic that it could actually happen toward the end of 2024?

Thanks a lot, and wishing you all continued success!

Expand full comment

Is Gordon passing his drug tests tho?

Expand full comment