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.
Your old friend from Fresno, CA has the same question for you I have asked going on 3 years now, I originally asked you this when you were still on ESPN Radio. Do you think Emperor Dana will still keep his promise he made back in April 2020 and bring UFC fights to Tachi Palace in Lemoore, CA after Governor Newsome shut down the idea due to Covid? We haven’t had a UFC event come to the Central Valley since UFC Fight Night 123: Ortega vs Swanson, any updates will suffice!
Wishing you and the crew nothing but health, wealth, and peace of mind! Thank you as always for all you do for us MMA fans 😊
After Saturday, we now have two more new champions. (Felicitaciones a Grasso). We now only have 4 champions with active defense streaks and 8 new champions with 0 current defenses. Who of the 4 will lose the belt next, and which of the 8 new champions has the best chance to hold it the longest.
Mazel tov to your brother on his marriage. I hope that you enjoyed the time with your family. Can you take us through how you were able to balance celebrating your brother and keeping up with the fights? Did any family members give you grief for doing so? Did you have to ask for permission from your brother? Always impressed by the relentless work ethic and balance for work/family.
Also, can anyone give any context to the meme that Ric has been using on Twitter the last few weeks?
Jones is unquestionably the "all-inclusive" GOAT. However, can we as a community please stop calling him "virtually undefeated"? This is a logically baffling statement.
Jones has an official loss, against Hamil, which we rightly ignore because those elbows shouldn't have been called a foul and he was dominating that fight.
Jones has an official win, against Reyes, that we count even though it is universally held that he loss that fight.
How can you justify ignoring his official loss AND his unofficial loss? It would seem that one justification would force you into excepting the other loss as valid.
What is up Heir-e-Yell. Has there ever been a time when this many of the most dominant and longest-reigning champions all lost their belts within almost a year of each other? Since December 21’ we’ve seen 4 of the top P4P fighters suffer loses, those being Amanda Nunes, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya & Valentina Shevchanko. As a some-what newer fan who isn’t 100% caught up on the UFC’s all-time history, has there ever been a similar time like this in the past?
First I just want to say it's great that 30 million Ontario residents can once again Bet on the UFC. And it happened just in time for GC to get back into the green.
Now, With all due respect to Virna Jandiroba. What are your thoughts on putting the word out for a fighter to walk out to the hottest song tearing up the charts right now?
The Hit record by the one and only Rick G Da Profit with the MMA Hour Remix??
I would recommend he doesn't have the show's name in the title to help get it approved. But if a fighter were to walk out to that on a Main card, it would be so epic may even have to immortalize them on the back of your laptop there. lol
How do you think the UFC should approach inactivity when it comes to matchups and rankings? This is a bit similar to New York Ric’s thoughts on immediate rematches in the sense that divisions are being held up by fighters sitting out so long. I get that the rules should be a bit different for Stipe given that he’s the HW GOAT but he did also sit on the #1 HW ranking for 2 years despite losing in his last fight by KO and not fighting for 2 years. How do you think the UFC should incentivize fighters to stay more active?
I've always been a big fan of Herb Dean, but man --- he seemed out of it during both the Rakhmonov/Neal fight and the Du Plessis/Brunson fight. Between Rakhmonov's mouthpiece being out for a long time during an all out brawl, Brunson taking unnecessary damage, and an untimely "Let's get to work" comment after a split second of clinch action, he just didn't seem present.
I'm nobody to criticize an MMA Referee... But when a referee misses like this, do you chalk it up to an off night? Poor Training? Being Overworked?
From the way you've given advice on awkward situations in the past I wanted to get your opinion on how I should handle a situation I run into frequently.
I work in a hospital and whenever I need to get to another department, go to lunch or really any sort of journey I always pass the same
front desk manned by a coworker. I politely say hi or try to come up with some small talk, but
then it starts to get awkward the more times I pass. My question is do I need to say something/acknowledge them every time I pass by?
I tried to have something different to say on one day and I said "hi", "weather is nice today", "only a few days until the weekend", etc, but it
got awkward really fast. I can sometimes pass this front desk upwards of 10 times!
With Jon Jones being reinstated as #1 P4P, I can't help but feel sorry for Islam Makhachev. His fight vs Volkanovski was billed as the fight for P4P King status, yet he never got that title after the win, and he is now #3 now that Jon has the top spot.
Many fans are calling for a rematch with Volkanovski, but Makhachev has nothing to gain from running that fight back.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Love the show, and shout out to GC and Ric. Much love from London 🇬🇧
No question this week, I was just wondering if you have ever interviewed UFC cutman Brad Tate? I heard him a while back on The Derek Moneyberg Podcast and I think he would be a fantastic guest on your show. Very few people in the world of MMA have as much behind the scenes access with fighters right before a fight. Especially now with BKFC announcing last week the Perry/Rockhold and Alvarez/Mendes fights, I think talking to a cutman before that event who has the knowledge and experience of wrapping thousands of fighter's hands would make for an incredibly informative interview. It would be really great if you could have him on to pick his brain and get some insight into the bare knuckle aspect of BKFC and the science of hand wrapping in general.
Thanks as always for being the #1 show in combat sports.
I have a question regarding Nottingham Forest and Wales superstar: Brennan Johnson. Do you think that Brennan Johnson will follow in the footsteps of the great Gareth Bale, and end up playing for Real Madrid?
P.S. What major soccer stadiums did you visit in the past?
First time stacker, long time listener from Perth, Western Australia. I’ve been following Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show from a time when Steve Mazzagatti and Stitch Duran were still allowed in the Octagon, when Burt Watson was heard bellowing through the halls of the arena.
My question is regarding Dana “White Power” Slap league and his instant side-stepping of the question asked to him at the UFC 285 Post fight press conference. He managed to divert the question (which was about the slow adoption of the show by the public) to talk about a 20 year old story about Tito Ortiz being asked a question in Spanish in a presser. And then finished the question with “in a couple of weeks I can’t wait to say I told you so”
Could I please get your thoughts on Dana’s ability to shift the direction of a question he doesn’t like as I have started noticing he does it quite a lot and unfortunately the media can’t (or won’t) retort with “could you please answer my original question”.
Blessings Ariel and MMA Hour Crew!
Your old friend from Fresno, CA has the same question for you I have asked going on 3 years now, I originally asked you this when you were still on ESPN Radio. Do you think Emperor Dana will still keep his promise he made back in April 2020 and bring UFC fights to Tachi Palace in Lemoore, CA after Governor Newsome shut down the idea due to Covid? We haven’t had a UFC event come to the Central Valley since UFC Fight Night 123: Ortega vs Swanson, any updates will suffice!
Wishing you and the crew nothing but health, wealth, and peace of mind! Thank you as always for all you do for us MMA fans 😊
Hello R-E-L & Crew,
After Saturday, we now have two more new champions. (Felicitaciones a Grasso). We now only have 4 champions with active defense streaks and 8 new champions with 0 current defenses. Who of the 4 will lose the belt next, and which of the 8 new champions has the best chance to hold it the longest.
--
King Tyler
Hello Ariel, I hope that you’re doing well!
Mazel tov to your brother on his marriage. I hope that you enjoyed the time with your family. Can you take us through how you were able to balance celebrating your brother and keeping up with the fights? Did any family members give you grief for doing so? Did you have to ask for permission from your brother? Always impressed by the relentless work ethic and balance for work/family.
Also, can anyone give any context to the meme that Ric has been using on Twitter the last few weeks?
Thanks,
Logan
Dear Jon Jones fan club,
Jones is unquestionably the "all-inclusive" GOAT. However, can we as a community please stop calling him "virtually undefeated"? This is a logically baffling statement.
Jones has an official loss, against Hamil, which we rightly ignore because those elbows shouldn't have been called a foul and he was dominating that fight.
Jones has an official win, against Reyes, that we count even though it is universally held that he loss that fight.
How can you justify ignoring his official loss AND his unofficial loss? It would seem that one justification would force you into excepting the other loss as valid.
Thanks for creating the best community in MMA.
What is up Heir-e-Yell. Has there ever been a time when this many of the most dominant and longest-reigning champions all lost their belts within almost a year of each other? Since December 21’ we’ve seen 4 of the top P4P fighters suffer loses, those being Amanda Nunes, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya & Valentina Shevchanko. As a some-what newer fan who isn’t 100% caught up on the UFC’s all-time history, has there ever been a similar time like this in the past?
ariel,
what's the latest on the strawweight title picture? who's next for zhang weili? amanda lemos? tatiana suarez?
First I just want to say it's great that 30 million Ontario residents can once again Bet on the UFC. And it happened just in time for GC to get back into the green.
Now, With all due respect to Virna Jandiroba. What are your thoughts on putting the word out for a fighter to walk out to the hottest song tearing up the charts right now?
The Hit record by the one and only Rick G Da Profit with the MMA Hour Remix??
I would recommend he doesn't have the show's name in the title to help get it approved. But if a fighter were to walk out to that on a Main card, it would be so epic may even have to immortalize them on the back of your laptop there. lol
Hey Ariel,
How do you think the UFC should approach inactivity when it comes to matchups and rankings? This is a bit similar to New York Ric’s thoughts on immediate rematches in the sense that divisions are being held up by fighters sitting out so long. I get that the rules should be a bit different for Stipe given that he’s the HW GOAT but he did also sit on the #1 HW ranking for 2 years despite losing in his last fight by KO and not fighting for 2 years. How do you think the UFC should incentivize fighters to stay more active?
Thanks,
Connor
Hi Ariel,
I've always been a big fan of Herb Dean, but man --- he seemed out of it during both the Rakhmonov/Neal fight and the Du Plessis/Brunson fight. Between Rakhmonov's mouthpiece being out for a long time during an all out brawl, Brunson taking unnecessary damage, and an untimely "Let's get to work" comment after a split second of clinch action, he just didn't seem present.
I'm nobody to criticize an MMA Referee... But when a referee misses like this, do you chalk it up to an off night? Poor Training? Being Overworked?
Cheers ----
Ahoy Ariel!
From the way you've given advice on awkward situations in the past I wanted to get your opinion on how I should handle a situation I run into frequently.
I work in a hospital and whenever I need to get to another department, go to lunch or really any sort of journey I always pass the same
front desk manned by a coworker. I politely say hi or try to come up with some small talk, but
then it starts to get awkward the more times I pass. My question is do I need to say something/acknowledge them every time I pass by?
I tried to have something different to say on one day and I said "hi", "weather is nice today", "only a few days until the weekend", etc, but it
got awkward really fast. I can sometimes pass this front desk upwards of 10 times!
Looking forward to your words of wisdom.
State of Korean fighters, Korean zombie, seungwoo etc...? Do they go back to Seoul for TKZ? Did you try pause cafe
Hey Ariel, hope you are well!
With Jon Jones being reinstated as #1 P4P, I can't help but feel sorry for Islam Makhachev. His fight vs Volkanovski was billed as the fight for P4P King status, yet he never got that title after the win, and he is now #3 now that Jon has the top spot.
Many fans are calling for a rematch with Volkanovski, but Makhachev has nothing to gain from running that fight back.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Love the show, and shout out to GC and Ric. Much love from London 🇬🇧
Bonjour Lord Ariel,
No question this week, I was just wondering if you have ever interviewed UFC cutman Brad Tate? I heard him a while back on The Derek Moneyberg Podcast and I think he would be a fantastic guest on your show. Very few people in the world of MMA have as much behind the scenes access with fighters right before a fight. Especially now with BKFC announcing last week the Perry/Rockhold and Alvarez/Mendes fights, I think talking to a cutman before that event who has the knowledge and experience of wrapping thousands of fighter's hands would make for an incredibly informative interview. It would be really great if you could have him on to pick his brain and get some insight into the bare knuckle aspect of BKFC and the science of hand wrapping in general.
Thanks as always for being the #1 show in combat sports.
Shalom Ariel!
I have a question regarding Nottingham Forest and Wales superstar: Brennan Johnson. Do you think that Brennan Johnson will follow in the footsteps of the great Gareth Bale, and end up playing for Real Madrid?
P.S. What major soccer stadiums did you visit in the past?
G’day Ariel,
First time stacker, long time listener from Perth, Western Australia. I’ve been following Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show from a time when Steve Mazzagatti and Stitch Duran were still allowed in the Octagon, when Burt Watson was heard bellowing through the halls of the arena.
My question is regarding Dana “White Power” Slap league and his instant side-stepping of the question asked to him at the UFC 285 Post fight press conference. He managed to divert the question (which was about the slow adoption of the show by the public) to talk about a 20 year old story about Tito Ortiz being asked a question in Spanish in a presser. And then finished the question with “in a couple of weeks I can’t wait to say I told you so”
Could I please get your thoughts on Dana’s ability to shift the direction of a question he doesn’t like as I have started noticing he does it quite a lot and unfortunately the media can’t (or won’t) retort with “could you please answer my original question”.
Have you reached out to Jon Jones for an interview?