The Ariel Helwani Show

Ariel Helwani begins the show with discussions about Rose Namajunas needing eye surgery, PFL debuting rankings and their longterm viability, and UFC 325 fight week (07:05). Josh Hokit joins following his UFC 324 win over Denzel Freeman to talk about the performance, his viral promo after the fight, his current contract status, wanting to fight Tai Tuivasa, and more (31:51). Eddie Hearn is back in-...

Ariel Helwani begins the show with a recap of UFC 324. Joined by The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll, they cover the night’s main event, how it could tie into Conor McGregor’s return, UFC bonuses increasing, Paramount’s first UFC broadcast, the suspicious betting activity around Michael Johnson vs. Alexander Hernandez, and Cameron Smotherman fainting at weigh-ins, before touching on Zuffa Boxi...

Ariel Helwani and Petesy Carroll react to UFC 324, the promotion's Paramount debut. They kick things off with the thrilling main event between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett, which saw Gaethje become interim UFC lightweight champion (03:22). Next, they discuss this week's chatter about fighter pay and the increased bonuses announced by Dana White (20:31). After matchmaking for the UFC's lightwe...

The Craic is back! This week, the lads go all in on UFC 324. To open the show, Petesy Carroll is joined by Craic regular Ben Fowlkes and UK MMA journalist Chisanga Malata to break down this weekend’s main event: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett (2:30). One half of that main event, Gaethje, recently voiced his disappointment over not getting more money after the Paramount deal. Petesy and Ben reac...

The Boys in the Back kick off the show with a discussion about UFC fighter pay in the Paramount Era, sparked by Justin Gaethje's recent comments (02:35). After touching on Dana White saying he wanted a specific fighter to lose (19:53), they preview the UFC 324 main card (26:59). The Boys react in real time to White's response to Gaethje (54:14), before bringing in Ariel Helwani to talk more about...

Ariel Helwani begins the show by reacting to Donn Davis’ PFL departure, PFL securing additional funding, and Jake Paul’s PFL partnership coming to an end (03:33). Next, Ariel answers On The Nose questions about Dana White’s recent media tour, including his reaction to the idea of Conor McGregor vs. Jorge Masvidal, Sean O’Malley’s future, UFC’s political influence, Amanda Nunes’ return, and more (1...

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by acknowledging Indiana University’s college football national championship (05:26). Ateba Gautier is our first guest, joining ahead of his UFC 324 fight to discuss being considered a top prospect, remaining relentlessly motivated, his game plan for Andrey Pulyaev, believing teammate Lerone Murphy should have gotten a title shot, and more (12:16). Rose Namajunas r...

Ariel Helwani starts the show on a somber note, reflecting on the Buffalo Bills’ season coming to an end, before reacting to a busy weekend that included major reveals from Zuffa Boxing, Paramount’s promotional efforts for UFC 324, Dana White’s recent apathy, Arman Tsarukyan’s world tour, Alex Pereira and Jon Jones exchanging callouts, and more (12:25). Jorge Masvidal returns to talk about rumors...

The Craic is back with its dynamic trio. Petesy Carroll, Chuck Mindenhall and Ben Fowlkes reunite, kicking things off with a deep dive into how the UFC’s Paramount era will shape up (2:47). Then, the guys react to Kayla Harrison dropping out of UFC 324 (28:13), how it impacts the quality of the UFC’s debut on Paramount, and whether UFC 325 shapes up as the stronger event (36:49). With Dana White a...

The Boys in the Back bring you another stacked show, starting with reaction to the arrest warrant issued for Gervonta Davis (02:52) and Dana White's recent comments about the White House card (05:12). Ariel Helwani joins, giving his own thoughts on the latest from White and discussing Kayla Harrison's withdrawal from UFC 324, as well as the numerous names volunteering to fight Amanda Nunes as a re...

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with On The Nose, answering questions related to Dana White’s announcement of Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer, Kayla Harrison being out of her UFC 324 bout against Amanda Nunes, Meta getting naming rights to the APEX, and more (04:23). Joe Pyfer is back to discuss the massive opportunity against Adesanya, being the betting favorite, how the fight got made, his respec...

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by reacting to yesterday’s Arman Tsarukyan pizza party, Dana White’s upcoming announcement, PFL revealing the main event for its Pittsburgh show, Moses Itauma’s next fight being postponed, and more (04:47). Dakota Ditcheva is back on the show, detailing the hand injury that forced her to withdraw from PFL’s February event, breaking down the fight between former ATT...

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with reaction to Real American Freestyle’s fifth event, headlined by Colby Covington and Luke Rockhold, and Dana White’s recent media tour (06:08). Bo Nickal, who was scheduled to compete against Yoel Romero at RAF05, joins next to discuss the event, Romero missing weight, trash talk from Covington and Rockhold, wanting to fight Covington in MMA and end his career,...

The Craic is back! Petesy Carroll kicks off the new year alongside Uncrowned’s finest, Chuck Mindenhall and Shaheen Al-Shatti. First up, they discuss how concerned we should be about Ilia Topuria’s fighting future following the UFC lightweight champ’s recent court proceedings (5:20). Another UFC lightweight with no title-fight news is Arman Tsarukyan. The trio react to Dana White’s interview with...

The Boys in the Back return to react to recent news, including PFL's former CEO departing, UFC Houston fight announcements, and LFA's new broadcast home (03:21). Next, they cover the unexpected talk of friendship between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, before discussing some of the other biggest rivalries in MMA history (13:06). Plus, the Boys debut the first annual Backie Awards (44:36), listen to...

Ariel Helwani is joined by The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll to review their predictions from last year, then forecast the MMA landscape for 2026. After giving their Must-See Fights (10:53), Breakout Fighters (45:39), Stories To Watch (58:58), and Male and Female Fighters (1:21:27), the crew predicts how many new UFC champions will be crowned (1:33:50), play a round of True or False (1:41:16...

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo reunite to roll out our second annual boxing awards spectacular, but first, they honor Anthony Joshua's close friends Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele (07:32). The duo hands out hardware in 20 categories, including Fight of the Year (18:26), Knockout of the Year (23:12), Trainer of the Year (1:09:08), Promoter of the Year (1:16:24) Moment of the Year (1:41:49), Female Fig...

Ariel Helwani, The Boys in the Back, and Petesy Carroll ring in 2026 with the long-awaited, never-duplicated 13th Annual Helwani Nose Awards. Before getting into the categories, the show pays tribute to MMA media member Abbey Subhan and Anthony Joshua team members Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele (08:28), then looks back at some of the moments we missed over the break (21:23). The gang jumps into the...

Ariel Helwani starts the final live show of 2025 with a recap and reaction to Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua, including the big winners and losers, before The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join him to further break down the aftermath and forecast what’s next for both Paul and Joshua (04:07). Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn is back to provide his perspective on Joshua’s knockout of Paul, Paul’s game pl...

The Ariel Helwani Show is live from Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Miami! After welcoming in the capacity crowd (00:30), Ariel is joined on stage by UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison (07:50) to discuss her upcoming fight against Amanda Nunes and more. The King of Miami, Jorge Masvidal, joins Ariel and ATT teammate Harrison on stage (29:05) to talk about the gym's dynamics, break down Harrison v...

For the final Craic of 2025, Petesy Carroll is joined by Chuck Mindenhall to round out the combat sports year. They open by previewing this weekend’s crossover fight between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua on Netflix (04:38). Shifting back to MMA, the duo discuss Tom “Bully” Aspinall’s message to Ciryl Gane and how the buildup to their rematch is shaping up compared to the first meeting (28:45). Then...

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll, answering your On The Nose questions, with topics including Francis Ngannou’s free agency, booking fighters on the show, corporate jargon, The Beatles, and more (11:29). ‘The Bad Guy’ Chael Sonnen is back to discuss John Cena’s retirement match, Ilia Topuria stepping away and the UFC lightweight title implications, Alex...

Ariel Helwani brings in The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll to react to the final UFC event of the year, starting with a review of Manel Kape’s big win and whether it was enough to earn a title shot, before moving on to the best moments from the now-over ESPN era, Francis Ngannou’s interview from last week and Dana White readdressing their interaction, and John Cena’s retirement match (12:16)....

The Craic is back! As usual, Petesy Carroll is joined by Chuck Mindenhall and Ben “Big Time” Fowlkes. This week’s biggest story is the escalating back-and-forth between Dana White and Francis Ngannou. The crew breaks down their interviews and what the exchange really means (5:05). Next up, the lads tackle whether Merab Dvalishvili still deserves Fighter Of The Year after his loss to Petr Yan, and...

The Boys in the Back submit their final show of the year, starting with some news and notes, including Kron Gracie being forced out of his VFL fight (02:49) and Islam Makhachev defending a potential Kamaru Usman title shot (04:04). After a conversation about the massive amount of turnover for UFC champions in 2025 (22:42), the Boys preview UFC Vegas 112 (41:18) and PFL Lyon (1:14:39), before touch...