Ariel Helwani: Kayla Harrison’s UFC Move A ‘Blow’ To PFL | The MMA Hour

00:00:00 Intro
00:03:05 Q’s 1-7 Kayla Harrison UFC signing
00:27:30 Q8 Could we see Cyborg vs Nunes at UFC 300?
00:29:53 Q’s 9-10 WWE announcements
00:37:21 Q11 Can Kayla Harrison continuously make 135?
00:38:16 Q12 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appointed to TKO group
00:42:50 Q13 Could Apple or Amazon launch a brand to challenge WWE
00:43:58 Q14 Will UFC stay with ESPN?
00:44:49 Q15 GC and Frank UFC 299 food edition suggestions
00:45:59 Q16 Why are UFC press conferences on a separate platform than ESPN?
00:46:31 Q17 Puerto Rico experience
00:48:00 Q18 Potential future UFC fights
00:49:35 Q19 Can the crew in the back ask questions to their favorite fighters?
00:51:08 Q20 Over/Under 3.5 title fights at UFC 300?
00:51:40 Q21 Fighters’ Uniforms

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Time now for everyone’s favorite segment of the week it is time it’s time for a good oldfashioned Q&A MMA fans elephant in the room earlier today did announce that Kayla would be joining us she has a pretty big conflict that she forgot about and so Kayla has always been great no heart

Feelings she will join us very very soon in the near future as will DDP I know I know the haters and the detractors are relishing the fact that backto back shows we have cancellations it is quite remarkable that this doesn’t happen very often nothing upsets me more not because I

Blame them but I just don’t like to announce and then have to do this essentially uh but these things happen in MMA and schedules happen and miscommunications happen and uh life happens um we are always very thankful and grateful whenever anyone comes on and despite your trolling we know that

It is all from a place of love so thank you all right let’s get into into the uh the questions shall we because we have a lot to discuss uh second week in a row that it’s uh moderator arel taking the uh steering wheel and I have to say

Frank I three weeks three weeks far you know who’s counting right feels permanent at this point am I U I had a head hunter approach me about moderating another segment on another show am I just wanted to know like am I the interim moderator or are

We taking that label off like what am I feels like this is permanent I don’t know why you’re asking us um I don’t know I just I’ll let you know when I want to be tagged back doesn’t feel like Frank has much of a say here you know I do like it’s it’s

A little bit more obviously but uh I I will say that I do kind of like being able to craft the direction of where we go like you know again this is what I love about Frank Frank actually reminds me a lot of myself because he’s very sensitive and

I’m very sensitive so when I say this I know he’s going to be dissecting it and he’s already been dissecting we went through all the texts from earlier today okay perfect um did you see that I use the invisible L that reminds me I need to take the

Function off your phone he he bought on the on the uh this is nothing to do with you uh I was like no I feel like this is everything to do I think it’s everything k for example if Frank was moderating today it would be like Kayla Harrison

Netflix UFC 300 this and the first question would be about like you know how many slices of pizza should you have with you know what I mean I’m saying this is what I’m saying he doesn’t do a good enough job he’s been and you’ve replaced him let’s not beat around the

Bush here he’s been fired you have replaced him I’m just saying it’s like massive has nothing to do with him Conor McGregor is coming back and it’s like how do you like your Sunday you know it’s just like time and place you know it’s like the Sean Strickland question

Li time and place right anyway nothing to do with you I just Frank are we okay am I going to get a text tonight hey man can you talk for a second phone call this feels like a phone call all right fine uh let’s go Hugo hello Ariel was

The news of Kayla Harrison versus Holly Hol the Golden Nugget you teased several we weeks ago so uh obviously I didn’t use the term Golden Nugget I said rabbit in the Hat and yes that was it uh this has been in the works for quite some

Time and again I reiterate I never said yeah I saw some people saying the the rabbit in the Hat was a women’s Bantam way fight the rabbit in the Hat was a holly home fight the rabbit in the Hat was a prelim fight the rabbit in the Hat

Was Kayla Harrison excuse me what I said time and again was because I knew this would get misconstrued and I’m not the promoter I’m just telling you what I’m hearing which ended up you know coming to fruition the rabbit in the Hat was something that kind of came out of left

Field and I think Kayla fighting a 135 is a little left field considering the fact that the majority of her career was at 55 50 one fight at 46 and nothing below that as an MMA fighter pretty freaking unique her leaving pfl signing with the UFC when of course we have the

Co-founder of pfl on the show just last week saying no she has one fight left pretty big deal fighting on 300 pretty big deal against the former Champion pretty big deal I mean this this feels like as I did did I did I Mis categorize

This GC I mean is this not fair six out of seven rabbit in the Hat nothing that’s going to blow the doors off nothing that’s going to headline maybe not even be on the main card but I feel like I categorized this pretty fairly would you not say 100% okay it’s I mean

This is a nice little rabbit in the Hat I me you’re getting a two-time two gold medalist y back to back considered to be one of the best women’s mixed martial artists right now and now she gets to take the test in the UFC see if she can

Become Champion I mean the door is wide open at 135 it kind of feels like after this past weekend 135 needs a uh needs to be revitalized uh and maybe this is it maybe if she becomes champion you know I know Juliana pñ is going to going

To be trying to stand in her way I actually got the the Venezuelan Vixen hoodie underneath the Jersy I know yourself yeah she’s going to be standing in the way but say she does get the belt Mana nun was talking about potentially coming back there’s so like all of a

Sudden it feels like two days later I think it’s a great addition to the prelims of UFC 300 it’s fun it’s fresh it’s different and all of a sudden you got now Peña Pennington there’s a backstory there if if Kayla wins and let’s see 135 we’re going to talk about

That in a moment you’ve got kayb versus the winner of that fight which is huge you have a m you have the potent remember before Kayla cyborg what was the fight the fight was Kayla Nunes before Kayla cyborg the fight that we all wanted was Kayla Nunes does that

Happened does Nunes come out of retirement to fight Kayla Harrison the former at teammates there’s a lot there so yes that was the rabbit in the Hat I think I categorized it very very fairly I love the fact that it happened and to me it just made the card even bigger so

Shout out to everyone involved Logan just as the news broke that the UFC had signed Kayla Harrison the first thing I thought was to come here with all my questions although you will likely answer some of them on the show here are a few that I have well here you go your

Time to shine Logan why did Don Davis seem to think she was obligated for one more fight so this is what happened Kayla Harrison had a contract her and her team’s reading of said contract was there’s there’s an expiration date on this contract there’s a term many

Contracts either have X amount of fights that need to be fulfilled or a term and you know we saw this with the likes of uh France Sanu recently and I know that there was a lot more to that with the exclusivity period and whatnot but in Kayla’s case her understanding and

Reading of the contract was there was a term that had elapsed come the beginning of this year and that’s why when she was on the program she said no I still have one more meaning the one coming up on that Friday the Black Friday fight and

Uh that was against Aspen lad and then once that was done they weren’t going to do a show in December she knew that so her understanding was I’m done the pfl’s understanding and Don Davis’s understanding was we still have one more fight because yes technically the fights

Hadn’t been fulfilled but the it’s it’s it’s whatever comes first it’s either the term or the fights whichever comes first so you could get rid of all the fights in less and it’s done or you could get to the term before the fight are done and you’re done and so there

Was that difference of opinion and so when I asked him that question and when I asked Juliana Peña the question about her at 35 I knew in the back of the of my mind that she was sitting on an offer from the UFC to fight Holly home at UFC

300 at 135 that’s why I asked these questions that’s why I was hinting at these things and so I was I was curious to see what Don said and he said what he said and then ultimately I I was told in the last day or so they they got it done

Then I asked Don D gave us about it and and his response as I tweeted this morning was we’re not going to stand in her way so for whatever reason they relented I I would love to ask more about this to either Don or Kayla or anyone involved uh

Because just you know just being the sort of vet in the business that I am I have a hard time believing that pfl just said yeah sure you know you could take her at the end of the day you could take care H you know were phone calls made

Were were there discussions like like here’s the bottom line if you’re the UFC right now if people want to get into legal battles they’ve got infinite infinite funds right they could get into these sort of tit for tats it’s not worth it ultimately for the pfl to do it

Especially when you have a a second half of the equation who isn’t a willing participant and I’m referring to Chris Cyborg and this is going to upset Chris Cyborg’s husband much more than it upsets her because I think that the majority the stuff that you see online

From Chris cyborg isn’t coming from her which I think is unfortunate uh I think the stuff of buying the URL people with people’s name like cats and Gano Judah jud.com is to steal a phrase from the kids these days incredibly cringe uh a lot of the stuff is cringe and I’m sorry

And that’s why I got annoyed at the tweet from two weeks ago because they knew exactly what was going on they knew that Kayla’s contract was done they knew that there were talks with the UFC they knew everything and they wanted to play the game that she was ducking that she

Didn’t want the fight on February 24th even though cyborg had a boxing match this past weekend and pfl didn’t feel comfortable announcing a fight before a fight rightfully so they knew that Kayla couldn’t take that fight because she was out of contract but they wanted the public to believe that oh yeah finally

That they’re under the same roof and umbrella It’s Kayla the one that’s that’s ducking even though Kayla Harrison was the one who signed a deal with Bellator a year and a half ago to try to fight cyborg in Hawaii and then pfl matched it come on give me

A break and now we’re gonna we’re going to claim on Twitter that Kayla duck are you kidding me Kayla Harrison has won back-to-back million dooll tournaments back toback what else is there for her to do in pfl just look at Michael Chandler look at anyone who goes from

Any other organization to the UFC you become 10 times more popular 10 times more famous 10 times more richer this is an absurd you’re going to you’re going to sit there and say that Kayla Harrison is ducking You by not resigning with pfl which pfl wanted her resign they wanted

To keep her around they wanted to make that fight at some point and now it’s easier than ever because they’ve acquired Bellator but there’s no guarantees that cyberg is going to take that fight either there’s no guarantees kale Harrison has an opportunity to fight at UFC

300 to fight in a number one Contender fight against a former Champion like Holly Holm you don’t think she’s going to take that fight this the ultimate competitor she’s a back-to-back Olympic gold medalist back-to-back Olympic gold medalist she’s accomplished everything she was the face a pfl she put the pfl

On the map she’s going to go out there and take this opportunity I’m not surprised I think it’s a brilliant move on her part I think it’s a brilliant move on the on the UFC’s part and it’s and it’s a r a move that is reminiscent somewhat

To WWE and aw aw gained some momentum they’re feeling themselves what does WWE do they take Cody rhods they take one of the pillars they take one of the faces aw feeling themsel feeling themsel what do they do they take a jade cargo they they they they take a homegrown star aw

Feelings feeling thems what does WWE do they take a CM Punk after everything that happened there this like pfl filling himself we’re going to take the face of your organization and and look the whole ship isn’t going to sink but this I think is a blow to pfl she’s a

Legit star and one of the faces of the company and and someone that they’ve been backing and investing in for quite some time this is a blow in my opinion it’s a nice coup for UFC it’s a blow for pfl and uh I I just felt it was very

Disingenuous that they were trying to spin this as her ducking Chris cyborg get out of here meanwhile Chris cyborg is on Twitter her admin is on Twitter pitching Dana White a fight against Amanda Nunes at 300 are you kidding me there’s a better chance of me fighting

At 300 than that fight getting made for 300 are you kidding come on and then you’re going to say that she’s ducking when you’re trying to get the same deal come so this is nonsense Kayla made the right call the big question is though 135 this is the big question she’s never

Fought below 145 146 can’t she make 135 in fact do we have this clip GC we didn’t talk about it before do we have the clip from uh way back in the day on the program no but I can have it in yes that would be great uh my good friend

Andrew Feldman found this when I asked her about entering MMA many moons ago I think what what was it 6 years ago 7 years ago something like that I think he had the date on the tweet and she said at at the time she would have to cut off

Her leg to make 135 she’s considerably more muscular and bigger now I don’t know I and and you know I’ll be honest in my conversations with her I express the same thing like can you really make 135 will you kill yourself to make 135 we remember when cyborg signed a deal

With the uh the UFC and had to you know try to cut to 140 and almost killed herself it seemed it certainly looked like it to make 140 not worth it will your life be different will your quality of life be different if you have to cut to 135 Ultimate Gamer ultimate

Competitor she seems to think that she’ll be able to do it can she do it once can’t she do it consistently if she becomes number one Contender and Champion all remains to be seen but I think that’s part of the reason why Holly Holm liked this fight very much

Holly Hol and her team likes this fight because it’s a high-profile fight on a high-profile card and she needs a high-profile win and they probably think that she is going her her opponent Kayla is going to deplete herself on the way down to 135 and rightfully so she’s

Never done it before it’s going to be a tough cut and that will be to their advantage so this is I mean how could you not be this is great this is great theater uh another question here from Logan what does this mean for the future of the bantamweight division the signing

This signing blows wide open what was considered an aging Division I agree first of all it is confirmation that 145 is dead because if it was a thing you sign Kayla Harrison and she’s the new face of 145 so that is done dead we can

Move on 135 now all of a sudden has a shot in the arm whether you like it or not there’s a champion that’s great there wasn’t a champion for the past seven months so that’s a that’s an improvement Raquel Pennington is your champion at 135 you’ve got Juliana Pena who’s a shot

In the arm who will sell the fight who’s a former champion and there’s a history that dates back 11 years there with Raquel and uh and Juliana so that’s great and now you’ve got Kayla fighting on 300 and you’ve got got rumors of Amanda Nunes considering a

Comeback yeah shot in the arm good stuff all of a sudden what a difference a few days make at 135 pounds hi Ariel from Daniel do you know if Kayla has done a test cut to 135 also do you think that if she wins at UFC 300

She fights the winner of P’s title fight or would Amanda be more appealing I think that uh regarding the second part of the question if she wins she gets the winner of Pennington and Peña and then if she wins that Amanda comes back and fights her that’s what I think happens obviously a

Lot needs to happen there but that’s how I think the uh The Dominoes fall Pennington Peña in the Summer she wins she’s waiting in the wings and they’re going to strap a rocket to her and all of this hinges on 135 and then if she wins that here comes Amanda

And that’s a gigantic fight now what about 135 well well this is what she said to me many moons ago on the program I think back in 2016 or 17 do we have a date October of 2016 there it is wow almost uh what seven and a half years

Ago here’s what she said about fighting at 135 as you may know there are less weight classes as far as like the major leagues of MMA for women as there are for men um if you were to fight an MMA what would be your ideal weight class um I think realistically like I

Would have to cut off both my legs to make 135 so that’s out for sure um I’ve made 145 before but it was many moons ago I actually had to split on I moved up to aight classes when when um Ronda and I moved to the same Training Center

So I put on about 20 pounds of muscle before the 2012 Olympics and I’ve sat there ever since so I’d have to lose some weight and I’d have to figure it out but I think 145 would be doable for me okay in a hypothetical world that that is

Fascinating because the the talk again as you may know is that there are not a lot of 145 Fighters out there there’s not a lot of talent coming up uh I can think of no bigger name than you as far as a Potential Prospect at 145 so isn’t

That interesting uh she said both legs I thought it was one leg both legs so look she has a little less than three months she’s known about this for at least a few weeks back of her mind she knew the deal was coming up and she knew that

There was no options at 145 so I think she gets it done I don’t think it’s easy but ultimate Pro and it’s just going to be a fasc that weigh-in is going to be huge it’s going to be fascinating now uh Stefan Shalom Ariel many questions re

Kayla what in the hell was Don Davis doing saying he was confident Kayla would fight in pfl I think he truly genuinely believed she had one fight and they were going to get her to get that one fight in um um this is why 224 was never going to happen this is

Why Chris and her team painting this picture that she was ducking her was disingenuous and and not factual and and and as I’ve also said to them if they were so willing to fight why aren’t they fighting Lissa Pacho that was offered Lissa PCO versus Chris cyberg was

Offered for February 24th and and the answer that the admin wrote was we’re focused on Kayla well Kayla thing wasn’t happening so this is all redirection Pacho versus Cyborg is now the fight to make and that’s a damn good fight because Pacho is a beast who just beat

Kayla Harrison not that long ago and won back-to-back titles as well for pfl so let’s see how easy it’s going to be to make that fight um in any event we continue I think he believed that I think he believed it and uh you know there’s there’s often been different

Interpretations of contracts and in the end she was able to walk and sign with UFC huge coup for them if this was the rabbit in the Hat this has been in the works for a while what does this say about pfl how many fights did she signed

For well here’s the thing she told us in November before the last fight on the pfl uh Championship she said this is my last fight that’s what made this a little bit awkward and I was surprised by the answer last week but it’s not like they were blindsided by this they

Knew this was coming and I think they were just hoping that they’d win the battle so to speak how many fights she signed for that I know Kayla cyborg ever may be down the line but I doubt in the UFC UFC is is just not going to sign cyborg I I

Don’t think that happens is it more likely we see Kayla Manda with her opening the door for return absolutely 1,00% what happens if she can’t make 135 it’s a great question I don’t know if she has a future in uh in the UFC if she

Can’t make 135 there is no 145 and I don’t think that they are willing to reopen that maybe for a oneoff if she’s under contract then that’s it and we’re going to get like one you know one last squeeze but if she wants a future in the

UFC it’s got to be at 35 uh PS gioa with Forest would be sick I agree Forest becoming America’s team potentially if they can sign giena uh that would be that would be fun I’m down Chris AR and crew with Kayla signing with the UFC and the rabbit

Being out of the Hat I feel like I need to trademark rabbit in the Hat for K like is is Kayla you know you know how Jim Miller wants to be Jim effing Miller should it be like Kayla rabbit in the Hat Harrison it’s not bad rolls right off the tone

Kayla rabbit in the Hat Harrison I did see a couple comments under Dana’s video that was like the the rabbit in the Hat hat come on the the the the rabbit in like the magician hat yeah Ah that’s great love it love it anyway uh how do you see the UFC

Matchmaking her after a win over Holly okay so yeah I answered that um I do think that she gets a title shot if she beats Holly assuming Rocky versus pñ is book by the time 300 rolls around yeah probably do you think Kayla leap frogs are returning Amanda Nunes obviously the

Biggest question is how she will make 135 however it works out glad she’s not on the long list of MMA wh ifs happy she’s getting a shot in the UFC and that there’s something interesting happening in a division that desperately needs it thanks for the shout out on the show

Last week looking forward to getting that package in the mail supposed to arrive today oh yes Chris my guy I didn’t even realize uh thank you so much and yes you should be getting it and yes this is very exciting Rick what do you think about this sorely needed need needed a new

Injection of talent and uh Kayla Harrison is just that and now the Peña fight becomes a lot more interesting the Amanda Nunes return becomes a lot more interesting there’s just so much there um that KLA Harrison just her presence uh brings to this Division and then for

Kayla like she’s kind of done everything you can do at pfl um maybe there would have been more options with with bellor uh in terms of the Chris iborg fight but this is this is her opportunity now this this is the this is the big uh chance she needed and

I think it’s a perfect pairing now 135 is is I I think everybody everybody has the same reaction to this news which is wow this is great but can she make 135 it’s it’s literally before with cyborg right we’ve been here with cyborg who was reluctant reluctant tried it could

Really just could not get down uh there’s certain physicality there are certain body types that cannot like there is not an ounce left of fat to get I’d be shocked if if this weight cut isn’t horrendous uh for Kayla Harrison and then the question becomes like if

The weight cut is horrendous how does it impact her performance like it’s it’s going to be it’s going to be the the story of this fight there’s no doubt that making weight is going to be more of a story than the fight itself at least the first time and then hopefully

We’ll see from there even with the acquisition of Bellator there was one fight left with her in the in the pfl one fight for her in the pfl there was literally one one fight right there’s nothing El I would I would watch another P fight you would watch it but we’ve

Seen it three times and it sells like five pay-per-views let’s be honest oh it’s not a big don’t get me wrong it’s not a big fight but I think that’s a good competitive competitive good fight yeah compared that to going to the absolute biggest organization fighting on the biggest card of the year

Uh the potential title fight the potential pñ fight the potential am like what n Nunes is bigger than all these other options I was about to say is nun the biggest women’s fight you can make right now sure 10 th% bigger than anything but I just I mean again look at

Chandler look at what will happen to MVP if he wins in March it’s just you can’t compare you know I was trying to make the comparison to someone earlier today and I don’t think the comparison of UFC to XFL usfl is fair because those are guys who can’t make it and that’s that’s

Unfair to anyone in the pfl OR Bellator I feel like the best comparison in and let me know if you guys feel otherwise it’s like NBA to Euro league we know that there are guys in Euro league like the dones of the world who usually will play there as as youngsters or for

Whatever reason don’t want to leave Europe we know that a lot of them are good enough and there are castoffs but you you also know that there’s a massive Gap in terms of talent and stakes and competition and that’s what the UFC is to all these organizations and so you’re

Like you Donis goes from playing for I think it was Real Madrid and then he goes to the Mavericks and look at him now he’s a global Superstar as opposed to a European Superstar that’s the difference and uh this is just a no-brainer and remember the last time

She resigned with pfl everyone was like B League fighter don’t want to test yourself you’re scared all right so now look at her not only is she testing herself not only is she leaving the shallow Waters she’s fighting in a away class that she’s never fought in by 10

Pound I mean also correct me if I’m wrong at that time didn’t she sign to fight Cyborg and then got matched like wasn’t that the oh yeah but there was a couple of resigning but yes 100% she signed an offer sheet from the the the Bellator organization to fight her on

That April 2022 card it was Hawaii something right and they matched it yeah and so she had no choice right so that’s not up to her no but you remember there were a couple times where she resigned and people were like you suck you suck you’re a b League fighter yeah of course

And she definitely remembers that I can tell you and she got million when she wins any sort of championships despite winning a million dollars if she pulls this off she becomes UFC champ it’ll be it’ll be unbelievable which by the way draftking sports book has her as plus

300 to be bantamweight champion by the end of the year you know what’s crazy uh when I did my uh 2024 predictions my two big predictions were kale Harrison women back to and Arman I almost I almost called up DraftKings and was like can we get a number added maybe like a plus

10,000 you guys need to learn I don’t pick this stuff out of my butt is it’s informed speculation you understand what I’m saying informed is there a world where she gets in and then the next fight is Amanda Nunes and not at 135 yeah it’s possible anything I think

That’s a much more viable path I don’t know if Kayla Harrison is gonna have a lot of cuts to 135 in her even if she has one yeah why not you beat Holly Holm Amanda Nunes Kayla 140 145 I mean Amanda Nunes was the 145 pound champion there is not another 145

Pound champion um just do that yeah maybe there’s a point after this one where she’s like screw this [ __ ] I don’t I don’t want to do this um yeah I think this one will be very telling also don’t forget she can make it she can make it

Unlike a lot of MMA fighters who have short amateur careers and just kind of jump in she had two Olympic Cycles not to mention all the competitions leading up to like career of Judo yes um which isn’t like a walk in the park on the

Body so yeah I I don’t know I don’t think she’s sticking around for another 10 you know what I mean yeah so it’s going to be fascinating um big back Ariel does the Kaya signing mean the true end of 145 I believe so I feel like this could have been the easiest layup

To resurrect the division if they wanted to and also putting a title on a future star stay as cool as the other side of the pillow man big back thanks bud I believe believe it’s it’s the end um Irwin Smith bons Ariel and lcu by the

Way I don’t think that this is the end I think this is just further confirmation that it’s that it’s done first I’d like to send all my sympathy to Ariel and the bills there’s always next year mon on me thank you uh I saw the press conference

With Josh Allen on Monday one of the most impressive press conferences that I’ve ever seen after a a a very you know disappointing loss what a guy our time is coming I believe it second uh with Amanda hinting at coming out of retirement and Chris cyborg calling her out for 300 if some

Way somehow Dana makes the fight happen will that fight be Main Event worthy Bon Aton guys do you not agree there’s a better chance of me being the play byplay man at UFC 300 than Chris cyborg getting signed to fight Amanda Nunes at UFC 300 there’s a better about I mean oh

300 no period but but what about cyborg just for one fight down the line I could see are you nuts no I I could listen I get it I know that it didn’t go well with Cyborg and UFC and Dana White but if if you’re in a situation where you’ve

Got Kayla Harrison as Champion or even Juliana Peña running out of potential options to fight they’re not signing man don’t go into business with cyborg to do multiple fights but one fight one not only are they not Sig show on one night they they tell people now they’re never

Signing Francis they they’ll never sign Nate Diaz I get it you burn burn them you’re done yeah and and and the cyborg you know burning the the flame like it was just it was it was a tough marriage to begin with and it wasn’t a pretty you

Know divorce so yep it ain’t say Kayla gets the belt she fights Nunes there’s so many ifs there she beats Nunes then they bring Lissa Pacho over in a uh the new UFC president I’ll be at the [ __ ] New York Stock Exchange ringing the I said Lissa P not Chris cybor sorry

Alex Pereira es Lissa PCO is the Alex perea P to cyborg or I mean to Harrison yeah I mean that seems viable it just doesn’t seem like the the big fight but that seems very viable Bantam the best weight class in the UFC now period all of a sudden I’m thinking what a

Difference that’s what I’m thinking three days when I say bantamweight know that I mean women’s not men’s yes 100% oh it’s so much better than men’s uh H Del Cruz 24 hot tag Nick Khan and WWE being ahead of the curve once again I told you guys don’t count this guy out

He is all head of the curve he’s five steps ahead of everyone best signing in WWE history everyone who was I mean it was so funny seeing these people who had never heard of him criticize him in the early days when he came over in 2020 knows the business better than any

Anyone and you have someone there who knows every executive and knows where media is going and and is able to open doors and have conversations they just signed a deal guys with Netflix Netflix who had never been in the live sports business I know that they’ve dabbled in

Some golf they’ve dabbled in some live with comedy but live sports and entertainment and what a marriage right it it fits perfectly with sports entertainment it’s not quite sports sports it’s not quite full-on entertainment it’s Sports entertainment and on top of it 52 weeks out of the

Year never and I say for now it seems like they’re saying Monday but but I think that they’re smart enough and Nick in particular who has changed a lot of things since coming over right Sunday nights always used to be the pay-per-view night changed it to

Saturday they used to not go to markets like Vegas and and uh you know other ones uh International markets for pay-per-views now look at what they’re doing and I wouldn’t be surprised if he he’s the one saying look 18 Mondays out of the year you’re getting Monday Night Football another Monday you’re getting

The um the National Championship in college football another you’re getting the men’s college basketball national championship that’s 20 Mondays right there that’s almost half the year that we have serious competition right Ser like no one wants to go up against Monday Night Football with the the package that ESPN and and ABC because

It’s Now simal cast on both not to mention the Manning cast success why do we need this so let’s go on Tuesday or whatever maybe Wednesday who the hell knows um so that’s that’s a story to to watch out for it was very interesting that Monday was not in the press release

Nevertheless he opens the door to Netflix which is like the Forbidden land that everyone had been wondering about you know who will get to them first as far as live sports entertainment is concerned they get this 52 weeks out of the year um It’s All Uniform so if you’re in

Canada you’re watching on Netflix if you’re in the UK you’re watching on Netflix if you’re in Latin America you’re watching on Netflix so think about the promotion think about like we don’t have to say Sports Net in Canada TNT in UK USA no it’s all one home and

Then think about the amount of people who just go on Netflix you know there there was once a time where you’re just like flipping through channels there’s once a time you’re reading TV Guide there’s once a time you’re going through the Direct TV Guide now what you do is

You throw on Netflix and you see oh there is a documentary about the 20202 World Cup great I’ll watch that there’s a show about whether a purse is cake or not let me watch that you know what I mean like that’s that sets the viewing for people and now people

Are going to have Roman Reigns and The Rock and Becky Lynch and Bianca belir and Ria Ripley in their face oh wrestling not to mention the ancillary shows and documentaries and pre-shows and post shows this is freaking huge game Cher to the nth degree massive people were debating Hulu they were

Debating FX they were debating Amazon they were debating Apple 240 plus million subscribers worldwide unbelievable what a deal Blown Away by it didn’t see it coming and a total game changer for the sport for the industry and for sports media in general in my opinion um what’s also interesting

About it is WWE sold this package for five billion over 10 years like I said they have the option for five they have the option for 20 but that’s like you know the nuts and bolts not only did they do that they also sold Smackdown to USA Network they’re getting over a

Billion there over a number of years they sold NXT to CW so it’s not just like they gave the whole damn thing to Netflix they even were able to cut it up there now overseas and in other territories outside of the us all of it

Is going to go there but then on top of all of that 2026 the pl pay-per-view rights here in America are up and that’s on peacock and so now they’re going to shop that again and if Netflix wants that meaning WrestleMania Royal Rumble and I would be

Shocked if they didn’t they’re going to make a boatload off of that oh my God it’s a freaking it’s like a cash register on fire it’s an incredible deal and so that’s why the big question now is what happens to the UFC they’re both under the same umbrella it’s the same Power

Players it’s Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro and Nick it’s all these guys in there now going to sell UFC I wouldn’t be surprised if UFC goes to Netflix UFC has tried to recreate the WWE model almost 52 weeks out of the year 7 hours a weekend all kinds of ancillary wein show

Pre-show postow it’s almost the exact same thing one big pay-per-view a month all of that uh they they are going to make it killing and their deal is up at the end of 2025 and their initial deal was for seven years 1.5 billion with ESPN they’re going to make I don’t know

3x 4X now for the next deal they are crushing it the whole thing is crushing um so fascinating times and um yeah I I was just blown away that they were able to get that done because no one was really predicting that everyone knew that Netflix was going to get into this

World at some point but in what way huge now the one other thing that is worth noting is the deal with raw and USA Network NBC expires October of 24 so there’s a gap there between October of 24 and January of 25 what they do I’m

Sure they’ll figure it out um but that is unclear and then there’s other things like you know people are asking me about TNT in the UK which uh I had a contract with and that contract is done um I don’t know what’s going to happen with

Me and them if WWE is not there I don’t know if there’s a future there we’ll see I don’t know my guess is and I don’t have any Insider information here believe it or not because I don’t have any contract there is that they probably just resigned for a year to make

Everything align for January of 25 and uh and then we’re off and running and it’s a whole new era anyway from going to WWE Network to Peacock and now full streaming a weekly show UFC staying on ESPN might just be a$ 10 billion deal

Now this is from H Cruz yeah I mean look at the success ESPN plus pay-per-view and isn’t it amazing remember when WWE made the decision to put all the pay-per-views on on um on the network and how they were criticized for it that ended up being such a a bold and Brilliant move

Really to take everything in house and then be able to package that all I mean you remember when they used to have those those like promos by like $999 9999 and they were just ramming it and people were like oh my God they put WrestleMania on a streaming platform for

$9.99 are you crazy now look at them laughing all the way to the New York Stock Exchange Space Jam one hey guys wanted to show appreciation and thanks for providing the best damn show on the YouTube streets even after all these years to clarify I plan my long runs

With my dog while listening to the show I believe this is the gentleman who last week was talking about running with his dog and I wasn’t sure anyway he says who is making the fatty boom body here sorry who is smoking the fatty boom body thinking Kayla can continually make 135

Hasn’t she previously said she can’t and will not fight it that way yeah but uh she’s a gamer also Chris cyborg asking for am Amanda Nunes at 300 is fun but unlikely we’ll be neat to see how 300 finalizes still a Well Spring of opportunities shout out to you guys

Thanks bud much appreciated Um I was bouncing around here so let me just get back on track I’m all kinds of fired up here today hello Ariel what’s your take on the Rock being appointed to UFC WWE’s TKO group board of directors cheers so you wake up in the morning yesterday

Morning Tuesday morning and all of a sudden you see the Rock and Another gentleman added to the board of directors like wow that’s pretty cool rock board of directors the come up and then you read through the fine print and you find out that the rock now

Owns the trademark to The Rock Dwayne Johnson now owns The Rock he owns that trademark that’s a gigantic deal and I love the interview that he had on CNBC with ar Emanuel and he said you know that’s my dad’s name Rocky myva I wanted this so much um he got

Emotional what a deal I mean just think about the stuff you know the Under Armour stuff his merch all that like he now owns The Rock he owns it he owns the the name and likeness so massive that to me is the real story there great board of

Directors head of the table he’s gonna fight Roman the question is though does he now fight Roman at 40 in April or do they do Cody Roman and then they build Roman Rock for next year on uh with the Netflix build because they can’t have it on Pay-per-view on on Netflix like they

Can’t have Mania on Netflix next year because the peacock deal is done in 26 but you can use Netflix January February March April to build to that that’s going to be the qu you remember when the internet said that they were going to do Rock vs Roman and Perth at elimination

Chamber remember when they said that in a month you I mean remember when they said Nick Conan was ruining WWE this is why you can’t listen to these people exhibit a by the way yes I have I have something to provide to this conversation surprisingly okay well I

Saw reports this morning that Cody rhods is not gonna face and forgive me because I don’t know the outlets I’m not yes but I did see that Cody rhods is not going to face Roman Reigns which means to me I mean seems like the rock

No no no no I’m listen the internet also said that uh it was going to be Rock Roman in Perth so you know my my initial reaction was Rock Roman Wrestlemania 40 but now now that I’m just seeing all this stuff and Rock’s playing qu like

Ultimately if I had to bet I said yeah it’s probably going to be Wrestlemania 40 April in Philly you save it for the first one on Netflix well you can’t do that because why not because like I said the the pl deal is up in 26 so even

Though raw’s on Netflix next year the paper rviews are still on peacock so yes that would be perfect and SmackDown is also just just to wrap the whole conversation Smackdown is also not on Netflix right in America Smackdown will be on USA rest of the world Raw and

SmackDown on Netflix got it so that’s and ultimately your your forecast is when everything is available they’ll package it up and Netflix will want to buy but you know what not a bad world to be in where you have a little bit here a little bit there a little bit there you

Know what I mean I think it’s honestly better if I’m if I’m being honest than having everything in what inevitably happens when you do that type of deal one or the other gets AG grieved at some point or isn’t happy or whatever it’s better to have it spread around but then

At the same time if Netflix is offering up five bill just for raw in the US and then maybe more for their others I mean it’s hard to turn that type of money down maybe Smackdown and pl is going to get him another five remember people said wrestling was dead remember when

People were saying you know you know what’s another thing um you know how people especially on on uh online the dirt cheats as people like to say which I don’t hate I I I don’t like when people are they not reputable I always hear that term do they are they not good

It’s stupid no it’s fine they’re they’re fine they’re good yes they’re just as good as MMA media like and and we think highly of them here too so all good anyway but one beauty of Netflix and this doesn’t really this is a byproduct of being on Netflix it’s not why they

Went to Netflix but now no one’s breaking down their quarter ratings oh it popped here it’s down here it’s up this there’s no ratings anymore the ratings game is gone for raw at least you know what I mean yeah it’s gonna be very interesting notoriously difficult to get data and

Information out of you will never you will never know how something did ever again which I like I wish YouTube didn’t have the numbers right there in your face mainly for my ego um anyway we continue ja cheers Ariel hope all is well with the craziness WWE had with deals and

Announcements in the past few few days it gets a person thinking what’s the likelihood that Apple Andor Amazon launch a Challenger sports media brand to ESPN I mean they’re getting into sports right Amazon with the NFL apple with MLS two gigantic deals in their own right uh but do they launch a

Whole separate thing I think that might I I think they just want the properties and you know what great again going back to the WWE thing and going back to the UFC entities like Amazon or Netflix or apple will like this because WWE is turned key UFC

Is turned key meaning we sign you and then you produce it we don’t have to worry about anything we don’t have to employ the production staff we don’t have to get this person that person and they love that so Netflix doesn’t have to worry about any of this WWE has their

Own team that will take over all of this and that’s a huge huge advantage handsome Rob olola Ariel with WWE’s Monday Night Raw and again they never said Monday night it’s currently Monday Night Raw I wouldn’t be shocked if it moves to another day that’s no Insider

Info there at all but just you know given the competition might make a lot of sense could we see the UFC follow suit or do you think they will stay with ESPN I think ESPN does everything in their power to keep them they’re very very uh

They’re very very happy with the UFC if they don’t they have the pfl right there and they’ll try to build it up but I think ESPN does every single thing in their power to keep the UFC and I think that TKO is in a great position and

They’ll shop UFC to them and to Netflix and everyone and uh May the highest bidder win but I think ESPN is going to try very hard to keep him JD Miami greetings from Miami guys this goes out to GC and Frank you said Monday that you will definitely have a

Food Edition for 299 Miami may I suggest that no Miami Eats Edition is complete without a Cuban colada which is not an espresso aside from that I’d like to know what meals you’re even eyeing for that midia noce sandwich panon be steti classic Cuban and does Ariel do pickles

On his cubin now the Cuban historically has ham in it does it not yes yes so no colada he said you want to list those off again sure sure sure sorry I was reading it fast Cuban colada which he expresses in all caps not an espresso okay aside from that he

Wants to know the meals media noce sandwich yeah yeah yeah heard of it panon be yep classic Cuban all right noted sweet thank you um but all to say you aren’t ready just yet right no we still got to find a place yeah down the road we we still got Anaheim to

Tackle Thomas just a thought hopefully one of them is picked one of my questions my question is does the UFC purposely put press conferences on a separate platform from ESPN to avoid repercussions for possibly damaging statements made by Fighters I could see ESPN being okay with the stuff

Being said at press conferences because it’s on YouTube and because most of the stuff on their platform only pertains to fights no I don’t think that goes into it um not at all I think they are probably hoping that you know that kind of stuff isn’t said but

Nevertheless um I don’t think that goes into it King zalo greetings irel and crew hope all is well had a chance to see you in the Puerto Rico press conference uh great job with the Spanish and the overall conference uh Muchos Gracias I remember seeing you you were

Very kind FYI I’ve had the pleasure twice before 214 workouts and at a hotel 246 you’re the goat thank you couple questions one I couldn’t help but notice that after our interaction I touched you twice over the shoulder as a friendly gesture knowing how clean you are I was

Mulling over my actions throughout the presser wanted to know if that was something that you thought about throughout our interaction no it’s okay if it’s a fan I’m totally okay you can hug and kiss me no problem did you get a chance to have a traditional Puerto Rican dish while

You were here if so give us the rating I went to a place next to the hotel called poina I had a fantastic meal um I had a nice soup I had a couple of empanadas which seemed to be the uh the recommendation um I even had a taco and

Then I went for some ice cream cuz I didn’t eat anything all day and I was feeling really good about myself and I was loving the Heat and then I felt a little bit sick after and then I woke up at 2:30 and I had to wake up at 5:30 for

A 7:00 flight or maybe it was a 7:30 flight whatever it was and I just couldn’t go back to sleep which never happens I actually thought I was going to throw up guys so it was a poor ending but I I enjoyed the experience um nonetheless and I can’t

Wait to go back back for the fight uh konas ATU I don’t know how to say that that’s an Irish konas atatu how are you in Irish quickfire questions today will Jon Jones fight Tom aspinal in 24-25 I say 25 will Nate Diaz fight in the UFC in 24-25 maybe 25

But long shot will sha Ali ever fight morab yes will Conor McGregor beat Michael Chandler I don’t make picks will hamzad fight for a belt before 25 yes who will be the middleweight champion on January 1st I don’t make picks okay just a couple more we recently learned that

New York Rick’s favorite Sports Illustrated cover was Winter 1997’s Tyra Banks nothing but bikinis issue great Shout with that in mind what is yours gc’s and Frank’s favorite Sports Illustrated covers shout out to the YouTube chat gav do you guys have one favorite Sports Illustrated cover I

Mentioned on Twitter on Friday I love the one with um with uh Vladimir Guerrero on the cover in the mid90s cuz I couldn’t believe that the Expos were actually being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated um there was one that’s tough right off the top of the Dome yeah

Were you a big Sports illustrator guy oh yeah subscribed from like 01 to like 2012 yeah uh yeah I mean every week uh there were a couple times where like when the Georgia or the Falcons or like an Atlanta team made it I loved it yeah those were fun when it was like

The local you know the local team it really felt like special like you couldn’t believe it yes um you f like the pride right oh yeah yeah when you’re getting the national mag and it’s got your team on the cover uh Andrew from Alaska hello Ariel I was wondering if

You could break the fourth wall for us during your interview with Juliana uh I realized the guys in the back could talk to the guests if they wanted to has there ever been consideration to letting the guys ask a question to their favorite Fighters example Frank asks Jake Paul a question

Thank you for all you do I think we’ve done this before no haven’t we haven’t we done on this usually the cins are to throw somebody under the bus you said that I’m not a big interviewer you know and then they then toss to toss to the back to eat the crow

Uh okay uh but so that’s not really TR true answer that’s not really the format of the show right like you don’t come here to hear me and GC like talking to the guests like the the format of the show is Ariel helwani the best in the

Business but I don’t mind if you guys want to jump in way I also feel like if we had a real question we were dying to ask you’d be like yeah far away yeah th% you have caral chances that I come up with a question that you haven’t already

Thought of and would phrase and ask better are are slim to none but if the occasion ever arised I’d probably rather toss it to you than do anything um but just so you know you have carage plus like you know 99% of the time we would just chime in they wouldn’t see us

They’d be like oh who the hell is like who is this who’s that qu it’ be awkward it’d be an awkward not Juliana she loves you guys yeah Juliana is an exceptional Juliana I mean she’s one of us that’s a colleague that’s that’s that’s a different scenario that’s a

Colleague she’s one of our own Drew hello Ariel big fan over under three and a half title fights at UFC 300 I’ll say under now BMF counts I’ll say they end up with three anyone disagree no that that feels like the number okay uh counts I’m going to say

Four I’m going to get ambitious let’s go with the one more this is from I cut off the name when I was doing the screen grabs so that’s on me but you’ll know oh Gavin it might be a Gavin again Ariel I agree with the vast majority of your opinions

But your obsession with Fighters uniforms drives me nuts especially when talking to the likes of AD Dawn Davis who could allow fighters to come out dressed like F1 cars again your argument is usually GSP dressing up like a karate kid or Chuck ladell’s blue shorts gave those guys more character but even

If that’s true most Fighters just use their shorts as Billboards for sale and yeah what’s wrong with that let them get paid DC had dip your car plastered over his ARS Anderson Silva wanted us to eat a Burger King and Jon Jones was an xbo Xbox guy apparently and you don’t think

That’s cool DJ with the Xbox shorts I love that it looked cheap and tacky and almost never added any personality to the gaug what do you prefer the fighters getting paid for having dip your car on their RS and by the way that’s a sign of the times 2024 I suspect they’ll get

Even like more high-profile sponsors or All Those ads being on the matap and the the the ring post and they get 0% of it what would you prefer you’ve just outed yourself as not fighter first in any event I continue it looked cheap and tacky I appreciate Americans are used to being

Advertised at consistently but it’s jarring for the rest of us to be subjected to more I spam and a sport stuffed with it wow Don if you’re listening mate Ariel is wrong on this one think of the fight metrics cheers guys and keep up the

Top that was a good line at the end I will admit uh anything that gets the fighters paid more is fine by me and something that I support I didn’t mind it they had cool outfits I just want it’s not so much about the sponsor it’s about being themselves being unique

Having different outfits all that stuff and more and not looking the same I hate that sort of thing thanks for watching we appreciate it very much hey if you like this video give us the old thumbs up subscribe as well you can get many more of these videos on the channel so

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