135 Comments

Hi Ariel! Sorry to bring this here and I know you 99% wont answer but you said on the ringer that after what Bassil Hafez said that you dont want to bring politics into the sport in MMA and you dont want people to push certain ideologies in the sport? How is he saying i dont want kids to be killed an ideology or politics? he didnt mention jews or Israel once!

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Ah lex would you go away out of that. This is an MMA show can we not just enjoy the escape

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People don’t have to mention a place or name for people to know what or who people are talking about. If he does bring it up it will lead to most people in comment sections about it and most of the questions being about it. It would become very negative.

Politics isn’t for social media because people just latch on to the first thing they hear and run with it instead of checking the truth for themselves.

This isn’t the politics hour it’s the mma hour. Where people talk about WWE ,darts and boxing and a little bit of mma too🤣

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I never said he should talk about it btw he is the one who brought it up (without even being asked) on the ringer show saying that he doesn’t want people to push ideologies. So if you bring it up I can ask a follow up and he also says on this page “anything goes” 😊

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Hi Ariel,

2 quick things :). Firstly you keep saying alphonso davies is a right back hes a left back lol.

Also i thought there was a rule in the ringer where you only had fighters ranked in the p4p who had a fight in the last year or a fight booked so why is jon jones ranked? Or have i got it messed up?

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Hi, Ariel, I have a recommendation for an anime or the boys (Frank & GC) would like, and it's one you could even watch with your kids. It's called HAJIME NO IPPO and it's about boxing, and a young boxer named Ippo rising through the ranks. It's realistic, exciting, addictive and it shows the tactics and stratgies of boxing- I guarantee you'll be hooked after 2-3 episodes.

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Jun 11·edited Jun 11

Dear Ariel & Friends,

I noticed you reposted a photo of the stadium filled Oktagon show at the weekend, and it got me thinking. With the UFC only coming to Europe, the Middle East and Australia once maybe twice a year, and that's pretty much it, they are leaving much of the world who want to watch live MMA unsatisfied. This has lead to the growth of promotions like Oktagon in Central Europe, KSW in Eastern Europe, Brave in the Middle East, and ONE in East Asia - and I'm sure there are many others elsewhere.

My question is, do you think that the UFC's lack of desire to go to far flung places is actually good for MMA as a sport? As it allows the emergence of new promotions who can grow without any competition from the UFC. Do you also think this might one day lead to the UFC losing their

claim to have 'the best fighters in the world'/#1 spot if a new competitior can organically grow its fanbase to rival the UFC's in those untapped markets?

Chito the other day was talking about Ecuador, i don't think that's ever going to happen given how low the gate would be compared to the salaries of the fighters which would stay the same. They'd risk taking a loss, on that show, and why would they do that? When the YumYum Centre can set a record gate for a Fight Night with a compartively weak card.

These days the UFC doesnt seem to be about growing the sport of MMA, they are just about making as much money as possible for as little effort and risk as possible, which is a shame. A stadium show in Ecuador would be amazing.

Shout out to the YouTube chat!

Take it easy, thanks

Gav

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I didn’t think of that but it could lead to one brand being dominant in Europe since there’s an open market for it. Doubt it will lead to the ufc losing their number 1 spot though because the most important market is America.

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Conas atá tú Ariel?

Any chance we get Islam vs Chandler for the belt at ufc 303?

Or could we get Tom vs Derrick Lewis? Outside shot....

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Hey Ariel. Some people on the internet have started a theory that you’re the only person reporting on the 303 Main event status because you’re being intentionally fed bad information. Can you speak on this at all?

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Don’t know if on the nose is before the raul rosas interview but ask about what he was saying in that post fight interview. Sounded like chiwewewe. Thanks guys

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Sup Ariel,

Break the fourth wall. NY Ric's absent on Monday made me wonder what Vox employee sickness/leave benefits are. For example if Frankie or Joe in the back want to take a day off the show are they entitled to a set amount of days off per year? Would love to find out.

Thanks for all you do.

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Jun 12·edited Jun 12

Ariel!

Given your credibility in the news breaking department. What are your thoughts on the Woj and Shams tension over the Laker’s HC job? On a side note. Who was your favorite “insider” before getting into the business? Love me some Bobby McKenzie and the late Chris Mortenson!!

Much love to the you and the crew!

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Good Day Ariel et al.

In my opinion Islam Makhachev has quietly been developing into one of the biggest bright spots of the sport. His respectfulness and candor along with his great sense of humor always make his interviews a joy to watch (especially if DC is involved). It is unfortunate that we don’t get to enjoy his presence on the MMA hour thanks to a certain someone.

Having said that, is there any chance of a Kayla Harrison-type exemption to get the P4P number one fighter on the P4P number one MMA show?

Peace and Love

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Kayla has shown that it’s the fighters choice if they want to go on and they are being loyal to a fault.

If they say they’re going on and Alli falls out with them for it that’s money out of his pocket because his top guys will have no trouble finding a manager.

Ironically the fighters not coming on the show is money out of their own pockets. Any media or interview is a chance for a fighter to build their profile.

Kayla is a real one but she’s smart as well and she knows if her manager tells her not to not go on that he doesn’t have her best interest at heart.

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Hey Ariel and crew. hope your feeling better Rick.

I really enjoyed the interviews with Poirier and Reyes. It’s great to see how much they have mentally grown.

I was wondering if you think you’ll get Shanelle Dyer on the show anytime soon? She’s becoming a bit of a highlight reel at the moment.

Also how far do you think she can go? I’m bias but personally I think she’s going to be a champion in the PFL or even the UFC some day.

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Hey Ariel,

True or false?

Jake Paul & Mike Perry fighting July 20?

His Excellency Turki is looking at purchasing all the boxing promotions?

PS. NY Ric if you’re back today, great to see you.

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Jun 11·edited Jun 11

I think I'm similar to you in being a little more attached to the 2006 -2016 era of MMA and its fighters. I miss people like Fedor, Couture, GSP, Aoki, etc. and how there used to be plenty of organizations like Dream, Strikeforce, Sengoku, etc.

Do you ever have trouble getting attached to or becoming fans of modern day fighters? How do you keep your fandom at a high level so you're excited about upcoming events? Big fan, following you since 2011, keep up the work!

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What’s up ariel gc frank and ric, for each of you guys what is your dream replacement if mcgregor and chandler fight does fall through. Thank you guys

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Poatan making a heavyweight debut against Pavlovic for the interim interim title 🤣

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Hi Ariel, on a previous episode I remember hearing mysterious Frank and Connor make comments to you about the way you store your coffee beans. After hearing their comments, I’ve been wanting to ask them what their coffee set up is like, but before I could ask, this information was revealed in the last episode of the MMA hour, I must have manifested this lol. Anyways, I was wondering if you still store your coffee the same way or if you finally started using a vacuum canister.

PS I just started a coffee business and would love to send you some coffee beans. Please let me know what you think about them, and where I can send them to you.

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Hey Ariel,

After the Cannoneer controversy, you once again critiqued the show/win model - but I'd love to know how you would realistically try to fix it.

From the UFC’s perspective, giving the full show and guaranteeing half the win would average out about the same percentage payout for fighters (e.g., a 50+50 fighter would just be guaranteed to make 75K)

If tomorrow the UFC would agree to this, would you support this and how do you think the fighters would react? So, instead of going 15+15, new fighters are guaranteed 22.5 K. Fair trade or nah?

PS: The UFC isn’t going to pay the fighters more (and therefore your answer can’t be “pay them more.”)

I’d love to hear Rick’s perspective too (if he’s back today).

Slava P

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