Happy Tuesday! It’s that time of the week again. Hit me with your best questions below. As always, everything and anything goes. I’ll answer ‘em on Wednesday’s show. Again, try to keep them short and sweet, if possible. That increases your chances of having the question answered.
With all this talk about brazial acai versus foreign acai, are there other foods you have had in your travels where the national dish is way better and different than the dish found in America?
Hi Ariel, I remember back in the day on the mma hour I’d really enjoy your interviews with other journalists to start the show, e.g. Ben Fowlkes, the man in the hat, Luke Thomas etc. The discussions were always fascinating re the happenings in mma. In more recent times, has there been a conscious effort to stop these interviews and instead focus on discussion with NYR and co? Do you miss having media members on? Is Cody winning the rumble?
What's good boys, long time/first time. My question today concerns the enigma that is Caposa, AKA Grabaka_Hitman. You've mentioned in previous years that his help in compiling shortlists is instrumental in you choosing your end of year awards, due to his seeming omniscience in all things combat. I'm curious as to the nature of your relationship, and anything you know about the MMA Twitter God personally. Also, leading on from the hip hop album of 2022 discussion last week, I wanna recommend GC to listen to 'The Forever Story' from Georgia native J.I.D. In my opinion an almost flawless album in terms of lyricism, flow, production and features. Let me know what you think! Big love from Doncaster, England 🤙
The ufc has not been in Dublin since 2015, do you think the recent surge of UK fighters has added to them not returning to Dublin or why do you think they moved away from a market they spoke so highly of?
Feels a bit weird that we went from speaking of a stadium show in Ireland to not even getting fight nights
I hope it takes a while before UFC returns to Brazil. What a disgrace by a lot of these fans for throwing beer and bottles at Brandon Moreno after his win and also by the vast majority who left the arena before Glover's retirement speech! Unbelievable!
Also add that they could not even sell out the arena after a 3+ year absence and it was a good, numbered event. (attendance 13,604 out of about 17k counting floor) Please no more for a while.
As always I keep it 100. Hope moderator Louis doesn't skip this one cause it's not a softball.
What do you make of DC promoting the slap league.? How is he not embarrassed ?
Please don't bring back the DC and Helwani show. Come on with all the ESPN telling you what you could and could not say it was basically another UFC Filtered .
Independent Helwani is ridiculously better than when you were with ESPN
Hope you and the fam are doing great to start 2023.
With the light heavyweight division belt being passed around like a joint at a Nate Diaz post training session who do you think will have the next great title reign at 205 and why do you believe that fighter will have a dominate title reign?
Hola Ariel! Let's have some fun.. You have to interview 3 fighters.. Dillon Danis, Sean Strickland, and Bryce Mitchell. You have to interview one in studio, one through the magic of zoom, and cancel one. Which fighter goes where?
Hey Ariel, hello from Panama (the country, not Florida) first of big fan since the days of DC & Helwani I would program my alarm during those COVID days not only to not miss the shows but to watch them live-ish. I got a bit of a three piece
- Would you agree that the final moments of the 283 main event was kin to an Apex event considering how empty the arena was at that point?
- Do you think Dana is discreetly on a month leave or something like that considering he was not in Brazil definitely wont be in the Apex cards and most likely wont be in Australia?
- Why does NY Ric always seems like he agrees/not agrees with the world? If everyone says the Sky is blue, he says "well you know if you look at it this way...."
Hi Ariel, My little big brother - Storefront Connor from Derry, Ireland sent in the ‘Mount Rushmore of tv shows’ question and ever since I’ve felt like I needed to weigh in.
I’ve seen some amazing mma moments in person, the first London UFC last year where everyone was getting KOs, the Peter Quelly walkout at Bellator 227 but today I’m coming here to call out the best fight outside of the UFC last year came from Cage Warrior and it was my fellow County Derry man Paul Hughes after he fought Jordan Vucenic for the title.
I think Hughes will be going to the UFC soon, have you seen him and what’s your thoughts ?
Also, there’s a rumour in Ireland that mysterious Frank shadow produced JayZs ‘The Black Album’, any truth to this ?
You scored a damn 10-3 against Dana after his New Years incident. It was a brilliant monologue and you truly eviscerated Dana in your typically biting and eloquent way.
However I want to know if you will do the same thing to a man you're notoriously (no pun intended) a nut hugger of in Conor McGregor. Conor has a history of unhinged behaviour and this newest allegation of him assaulting a woman on a boat is amongst the worst things he's done yet. I look forward to seeing you slice through Conor and put up the domestic violence hotline numbers afterwards
IVE GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH U Ariel. How dare you say Jiri is the best LHW when hes had a total of 3 fights against no one in current top 10 rankings. Yet Jamal hill has fought tougher young contenders and has come back from defeat. Also he schooled glover and Jiri barley squeezed one by. Please stop the disrespect. PS: please give Herb dean his flowers for sticking to his guns and allowing moreno to jump on figgy after the eye poke complaint. Had he paused the fight moreno would not have landed the ground and pound which caused figgys eye to close. Very tough call, especially when a fighter protests more often than not we see refs pause the fight despite not seeing the actual eye poke
Hey Ariel I have a disagreement here. I feel like you didn’t give Jamahal enough credit on Mondays show. In my opinion Glover was just as game as he was vs Jiri. It’s just that Jamahal Hill is that good and some people still haven’t realized that. Glover had Jiri beat and messed up. Jamahal pitched a shutout. He is the best LHW in the ufc. P.S: BIG FAN 👃🏻
The crowd in Brazil was pretty lame, but I also thought the card was ENTIRELY too long. I have no idea how you’re able to actually do The Ringer after a ridiculously long card like that.
What do you think is the sweet spot for optimal number of fights on a ppv card? And how do you manage to even stay awake to talk about the fights at 2am?
Me - I think a 5 prelim, 5 main card lineup with a 9pm main card start time is ideal.
Ahoy Mr Helwani, I have been thinking about an appropriate punishment for Dana White over the past couple of weeks and want your thoughts. Given that “you don’t come back from these things” at a minimum Dana White losing the role of UFC president is the ONLY option. However, since he doesn’t seem to care about that, let’s double down and bring in El Nariz, Presidente Helwani! Our one true king, the Man of the People to take up the mantle of UFC president and give the fans the enthusiasm and excitement they need after years of stale UFC promotion! All Hail President Helwani!
With all this talk about brazial acai versus foreign acai, are there other foods you have had in your travels where the national dish is way better and different than the dish found in America?
Hi Ariel, I remember back in the day on the mma hour I’d really enjoy your interviews with other journalists to start the show, e.g. Ben Fowlkes, the man in the hat, Luke Thomas etc. The discussions were always fascinating re the happenings in mma. In more recent times, has there been a conscious effort to stop these interviews and instead focus on discussion with NYR and co? Do you miss having media members on? Is Cody winning the rumble?
Thank you and have a good show.
What's good boys, long time/first time. My question today concerns the enigma that is Caposa, AKA Grabaka_Hitman. You've mentioned in previous years that his help in compiling shortlists is instrumental in you choosing your end of year awards, due to his seeming omniscience in all things combat. I'm curious as to the nature of your relationship, and anything you know about the MMA Twitter God personally. Also, leading on from the hip hop album of 2022 discussion last week, I wanna recommend GC to listen to 'The Forever Story' from Georgia native J.I.D. In my opinion an almost flawless album in terms of lyricism, flow, production and features. Let me know what you think! Big love from Doncaster, England 🤙
Hi Ariel,
The ufc has not been in Dublin since 2015, do you think the recent surge of UK fighters has added to them not returning to Dublin or why do you think they moved away from a market they spoke so highly of?
Feels a bit weird that we went from speaking of a stadium show in Ireland to not even getting fight nights
Ariel, hello from Montreal!
I hope it takes a while before UFC returns to Brazil. What a disgrace by a lot of these fans for throwing beer and bottles at Brandon Moreno after his win and also by the vast majority who left the arena before Glover's retirement speech! Unbelievable!
Also add that they could not even sell out the arena after a 3+ year absence and it was a good, numbered event. (attendance 13,604 out of about 17k counting floor) Please no more for a while.
Your thoughts ?
Shalom Ariel!
It was very sad to see Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua finish his career they way he did.
In your opinion, which fighters retired at the right moment and which fighters had the best ending to their career?
P.S.
"Another Game for Milos!"
Hi lads ,
You say ask anything so here's one .
As always I keep it 100. Hope moderator Louis doesn't skip this one cause it's not a softball.
What do you make of DC promoting the slap league.? How is he not embarrassed ?
Please don't bring back the DC and Helwani show. Come on with all the ESPN telling you what you could and could not say it was basically another UFC Filtered .
Independent Helwani is ridiculously better than when you were with ESPN
Have a good one
NoSoupForYou
Hi Ariel!
Hope you and the fam are doing great to start 2023.
With the light heavyweight division belt being passed around like a joint at a Nate Diaz post training session who do you think will have the next great title reign at 205 and why do you believe that fighter will have a dominate title reign?
Hola Ariel! Let's have some fun.. You have to interview 3 fighters.. Dillon Danis, Sean Strickland, and Bryce Mitchell. You have to interview one in studio, one through the magic of zoom, and cancel one. Which fighter goes where?
Hey Ariel, hello from Panama (the country, not Florida) first of big fan since the days of DC & Helwani I would program my alarm during those COVID days not only to not miss the shows but to watch them live-ish. I got a bit of a three piece
- Would you agree that the final moments of the 283 main event was kin to an Apex event considering how empty the arena was at that point?
- Do you think Dana is discreetly on a month leave or something like that considering he was not in Brazil definitely wont be in the Apex cards and most likely wont be in Australia?
- Why does NY Ric always seems like he agrees/not agrees with the world? If everyone says the Sky is blue, he says "well you know if you look at it this way...."
Hi Ariel, My little big brother - Storefront Connor from Derry, Ireland sent in the ‘Mount Rushmore of tv shows’ question and ever since I’ve felt like I needed to weigh in.
I’ve seen some amazing mma moments in person, the first London UFC last year where everyone was getting KOs, the Peter Quelly walkout at Bellator 227 but today I’m coming here to call out the best fight outside of the UFC last year came from Cage Warrior and it was my fellow County Derry man Paul Hughes after he fought Jordan Vucenic for the title.
I think Hughes will be going to the UFC soon, have you seen him and what’s your thoughts ?
Also, there’s a rumour in Ireland that mysterious Frank shadow produced JayZs ‘The Black Album’, any truth to this ?
Hey Ariel
You scored a damn 10-3 against Dana after his New Years incident. It was a brilliant monologue and you truly eviscerated Dana in your typically biting and eloquent way.
However I want to know if you will do the same thing to a man you're notoriously (no pun intended) a nut hugger of in Conor McGregor. Conor has a history of unhinged behaviour and this newest allegation of him assaulting a woman on a boat is amongst the worst things he's done yet. I look forward to seeing you slice through Conor and put up the domestic violence hotline numbers afterwards
Thanks mate
IVE GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH U Ariel. How dare you say Jiri is the best LHW when hes had a total of 3 fights against no one in current top 10 rankings. Yet Jamal hill has fought tougher young contenders and has come back from defeat. Also he schooled glover and Jiri barley squeezed one by. Please stop the disrespect. PS: please give Herb dean his flowers for sticking to his guns and allowing moreno to jump on figgy after the eye poke complaint. Had he paused the fight moreno would not have landed the ground and pound which caused figgys eye to close. Very tough call, especially when a fighter protests more often than not we see refs pause the fight despite not seeing the actual eye poke
Hey Ariel I have a disagreement here. I feel like you didn’t give Jamahal enough credit on Mondays show. In my opinion Glover was just as game as he was vs Jiri. It’s just that Jamahal Hill is that good and some people still haven’t realized that. Glover had Jiri beat and messed up. Jamahal pitched a shutout. He is the best LHW in the ufc. P.S: BIG FAN 👃🏻
Hi Ariel,
The crowd in Brazil was pretty lame, but I also thought the card was ENTIRELY too long. I have no idea how you’re able to actually do The Ringer after a ridiculously long card like that.
What do you think is the sweet spot for optimal number of fights on a ppv card? And how do you manage to even stay awake to talk about the fights at 2am?
Me - I think a 5 prelim, 5 main card lineup with a 9pm main card start time is ideal.
Ahoy Mr Helwani, I have been thinking about an appropriate punishment for Dana White over the past couple of weeks and want your thoughts. Given that “you don’t come back from these things” at a minimum Dana White losing the role of UFC president is the ONLY option. However, since he doesn’t seem to care about that, let’s double down and bring in El Nariz, Presidente Helwani! Our one true king, the Man of the People to take up the mantle of UFC president and give the fans the enthusiasm and excitement they need after years of stale UFC promotion! All Hail President Helwani!