22 Comments
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Ryan Wohl's avatar

Incredible work as always Ariel! Can’t wait to see more of independent Helwani!!

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Anthony Minnick's avatar

Not saying you are wrong but don’t you think the ufc would try to promote the fact that gane and Francis were once training together? Kinda how they did with usman and burns, obviously they weren’t training as long as those two, but just want to hear your thoughts. Can’t wait for Monday, mma community needs a Ariel show back!

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James Best's avatar

Why risk ruining one of the biggest money fights in UFC history? Helwani has been pitching this since Francis won the belt. Book Jon Jones and Francis now so that Gane cant play spoiler. Because if Gane beats Francis in the title unification bout, all the money the UFC invested in Francis is down the drain.

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Matt L's avatar

Is Jon vs Stipe any less of a banger than Jon vs Francis? I love the Ciryl/Francis story and I love the match up almost as much - would be a shame if it was lost.

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James Best's avatar

I know but as a wise man once told me. Go where the money is. There’s more money in a jones francis fight than stipe jones.

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Obese Rampage's avatar

RC tho: 😒

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Henrick's avatar

Wow it’s soo good to get some helwani content

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Gannon Barnes's avatar

Man, does it feel good to read some of your work again.

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Jacob Rogers's avatar

So glad you are independent now. See you on McAfee, uncensored.

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Morris P's avatar

I know he kinda deserves the title shot, but I really wanted to see Bones take on someone in the bottom half of the top 10 before he gets a title fight. Give Francis another flashy KO too as champ.

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Hip Notic's avatar

It’s great to read you again. ESPN writing is washed compared to this. Hope you keep it up!

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Justin Ouaknine's avatar

Hell yeah, great to hear/read some MMA news from you again Ariel 🙏🏼

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Matt DaSilva's avatar

Good thoughts, The idea of Gane defending the Interim title seems a bit much but I get it. We all want to see Jones back.

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Justin Snow's avatar

Enjoyed this

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Gordon Liu's avatar

Words can't express how stoked I am that the mma hour is back. There was an unfilled void in the sport when it ended. Nothing that came after even came close to comparing. This is best case scenario with 2 shows a week and you now working with BT and in substance. Thanks for listening to us fans bringing back the best show in all of sports.

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Christian Wilson's avatar

If Jones is willing and ready for an October date, do it. If he's going to balk, let him sit until the unified champion is ready to go.

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Stash Adams's avatar

Miss seeing your dumb face on Pat’s show bro.

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William Roan's avatar

You're an idiot where Stevenson is concerned. Especially in the current regime of the WWE, they have no idea what they're doing in the booking department and have no idea how to get people over. On top of that, the wear and tear of one year in the pro wrestling circuit is probably on par with 5-10 years of consistent bookings in MMA(remember, when things are going full steam, they work 4-5 nights a week with travel, and only the most busy and insane MMArtists work 5 times a YEAR. Don't counter with "they do their work in the gym" because wrestlers have to train regularly as well.

Brock Lesnar's path isn't tried and true, what the fuck are you talking about? He is a SINGULAR entity in both the pro wrestling abs MMA worlds. He is an absolute monster and it took that, timing and the suppourt of Titan AND the public to make it happen the way it did. That's not tried and true, that's a concurrence of events causing a perfect storm. You want to suggest to the kid to hope for a perfect storm? Stop giving advice, maybe learn more about the pro wrestling biz before you give this type of advice and certainly before you reach your kids about it's history.

Here's a clue: you aren't going to learn pro wrestling history from WWE documentaries.

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Matt L's avatar

Chill, Will.

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Nick W.'s avatar

I'm gonna have to agree and disagree with the both of you on this. Brock imo wasn't so much the product of a perfect storm as he was just raw talent, an insanely massive man with the drive to kill or be killed and someone established in showmanship. I had the privilege of meeting him in '01 at a wrestling camp and granted I was only about 135# his arms and neck were bigger around then my torso. Every punch he threw had a chance? Yeah he had the knee bar and arm triangle wins but I funny believe a perfect storm does better then 5-4.

If Gable really wanted to pursue MMA he would be wise finish school, a little more development never hurts. But I'd recommend he gets going in BJJ and Judo asap. They'll play into his strengths, they both will feel 75% natural and will only enhance his wrestling. Beyond that Edgar style dirty boxing, focus on using jabs and his length to control the distance and grow from there. Sorry Ariel but I feel if he wants to compete and build a legacy, WWE will only hurt him. But if he want's to focus on making money, putting on a show and being an entertainer, Brock's path is the way to go, minus the MMA

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Thomas McCulloch's avatar

Hope this match up gets more public support to put the pressure on the UFC to get the fight made.

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