Ariel Helwani on What Could Have Been at UFC 301 | The MMA Hour
Ariel Helwani talks about the #UFC301 fight card, Steve Erceg getting a title shot against champ Alexandre Pantoja, and recaps the weekend of fight news.
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Pereira, Costa, Burns, RDA, Oliveira, Figgy, Andrade, Diego Lopes are all some of Brazil's best/most popular fighters and were all booked in the months before 301. Poor planning by the UFC no matter how you look at it. They did this same thing last year with IFW, putting Australia's best fighters on that card when the Sydney ppv was five weeks away.
I agree, but Pereira actually prefers to fight in the States
Pereira and Oliveira in 300 🤦♂️
Yeah but the fighters want to fight. Some fighters do not want to wait until UFC 301 to fight. If the UFC only did what the fans wanted they would go bankrupt.
@@Cozmo1994 That last sentence might actually be the dumbest mma take I have ever heard. And I've heard a lot of bad takes in this community
I can't stand Colby but Covington V Garry at UFC Dublin would be insane
Covington isn’t going to take that fight, and he DEFINITELY isn’t going to Ireland.
@@KFBALL247Colby was literally the one who called him out 🤨
@@jvelking9158 you call that a "call out"? 😄 Colby is doing everything possible to duck Ian Garry, anyone with an iota of a brain would realize that...
@@jvelking9158that’s not a callout.. giving ridiculous stipulations where one of them is to have Ian’s wife get on her knees and beg Colby to fight Ian.. come on dude you can’t be serious.
Man after watching Covington whom I also hate last fight I don’t think he has anything to offer any more
This is just like what happened to the UFC card in Sydney last year, they booked both Rob, Volk and Jack Della not long before announcing the card and didn't announce the headliner until a few weeks out. Super disappointing for fans from Australia. We still got Izzy and Tai - but could have been so much better.
Dana White put all this "pressure" for the 300 main event on his damn self when he said "iT wilL BloW yoU AwaY"
Exactly
Ariel “what are they saying on Ian’s?”rick and gc “you can’t say anything the comments are off “😂
Mark Coleman's such an awesome human being. He's just a really great guy. For him to say sober is cool at the end. I love that he does stuff like that.
Bro the hate jamahal hill gets from ariel is crazy
Then he pretends he doesn’t do anything wrong. Weasel.
if hill sees ariel in real, yikes
Hill already 10-7 him by releasing the receipts
Nothings gonna happen lol..he’s a pro fighter.
Hill Dropped his own Brother he don't care juss like masvidal aint care when he saw colby@@Fitkid7672
my dude this happens every era nothing is going to happen.
Move Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan to headline UFC 301
Figgy and Moreno kept that division alive. Now it's back to being cut damn near
Moreno has five losses to the last two champions and ufc got rid of askarov after a draw to him lmao. Moreno isn’t the guy y’all pretend he is at all. Not even top 5 at the weight.
What an amazing win for Petr Yan
Part of the problem is that when the ufc go to a certain country they think that all the fans want to see are fighters from that country. I’m sure Brazilian fans would prefer to see an Izzy vs DDP over this crap even if none of them are Brazilian.
But ddp declined so that whole statement is null
@@MMAOdinhe used that fight as an example
@@MMAOdin like the guy below me said, I only used that fight as an example, but there are many other good fights that could’ve been made between non-Brazilians and the fans would’ve been much happier.
@@raul350raptor okay so make some suggestions? Keep in mind the fighters that just fought, injuries and surgeries. Im honestly curious what fights you would make
@@MMAOdin Leon Vs Belal Gane vs Pavlovich Aspinall vs Blaydes Usman vs Shavkat Colby vs Ian Garry Gane vs Aspinall and then not to mention all the Brazilians fighting literally the ppv before 301 if they really wanted to have a Brazilian headline the card Charles vs Arman Alex vs Hill Could’ve also added Figi vs Cody to the main card of 301, no reason for that to be opening early prelims for 300
"Tremendous poster by the way" 😂
brendan allen getting Curtis again is a blessing to him. Theyre both mid UFC fighters, nothing wrong with that, but for Allen, it will keep his delusion going that he deserves to be in the top 5, because the dude should be like a number 15 ranked guy if the division was actually a decent representation of climate of the whole MMA community.
He’s 11-2 in the UFC in the past 5 years with 8 finishes. He’s only 28 and deserved a shot at Vettorri who is a decision machine. Calling him mid when he actually comes to kill or be killed and not eke out decisions is cute.
@@prelude2pain i think vettori is mid also, his toughness gets him more credit than he might deserve. but my statement is that hes lucky that hes not gonna be challenged near as much as he would going against Marvin, thus he can pretend for another 3-6 months that he deserves a title shot, or rather will be champion. a title shot may be warranted with a win, but thats because that division is pretty over run with mid fighters.
Its not lack luster its stars are getting older an retiring an only way u get new stars is putting them out there an hope they have great fights
Hammer House for life! Get well Coleman RIP Kevin Randleman
Free Baroni?
I love how Jon has a mode that he can go into where he is. Not a killer, he's just having a good time. No face off. I thought that was good.
DdP is gonna hold on the belt as long as possible without defending. Everyone knew he wasn't going to fight izzy at 300 even if healthy. The should put Leon vs forgot his name at 301 Just to give him his title fight. Also they said the same thing about about 199 and 201. No one wanted to fight on those cards because fighters knew 200 is gonna get all the buys. And they also just had 194 and 196 and then 202 and 205. Which were way bigger events.
Dana put the "heat" on 300 not the fan's if he just announced it everyone would of been like hell yeah...but when you jump out the window saying the Main will "blow our mind's you'll never expect it" then putting the 301 Main on there instead.. a fight that was already said to be next for Alex people are going to complain
Do not forget Ariel. We did not put pressure on the UFC to put together and great main event for 300. Dana did.
He was talking like it was gonna be big. He really oversold it this time.
The planning of UFC need to change. Its incredible
ufc 301 looks like an underwhelming Fight Night
Alex, Charles, And Gilbert shouldve been at 301, Jones v Stipe should main 300
Yan cant catch a dam break
Steve Erceg has fr been a "top 10 flyweight in the world" for years back here is Australia, had he actually had been signed to the ufc sooner nobody would even question this at all
Last year he was +300 against david dvorak i would agree erceg is good but top 10 for years in a shallow division like flyweight dont really mean that much in me opinion
@@depthsofhell yeah 100%, purely because the talent is so shallow, I would never make this comment about a regional fighter in any other division ahaha
Heavyweight is shallow too. I’m sure there are some regional dudes from dagerstan who can beat tai tuivasa.
@@TonyTinker-hc3zq not my boy Tai catching strays ahahaha
@@lachysims6327fr why did he have to do Tai like that 😭
Shift Hill & Alex to 301. 300 will still be epic. Drop the Bo-lay-up off the main card (who wants to see a lay-up on a main card?), and that will improve it again. Hill will get a chance at a Rocky-style moment, if he takes the belt back in Alex's home nation.
Brazil taxes the fighters like crazy and nobody wants to fight there anyways
Alex likes to fight in the u.s apparently from what people been saying
Love Jones, great bloke. He got on great with the NRL boys, which I dang loved. Aspinall is awesome too. The NRL should invite Jones to come watch the NRL champion versus the English champion game when it comes around, where Aspinall can support the English side. ✌😄
It is Erceg, not Rceg...
Arrrrrrrr-cig
Nobody cares I promise lol
@@brandonewing9912 Ariel goes out of his way to pronounce surnames correctly.
@@brandonewing9912 ERRRR-CEEEEEG
@@joksimradovic4040apparently not even ariel cares 😂 who were we even talking about again?
To be fair the people who don't think Erceg can win just probably don't watch the prelims. Every fight he's looked better and he looked good to start.
He's certainly looked very good thus far. I think it's people who haven't seen him going by the "10" by his name. It's nice to get a new 125 matchup and if Erceg wins that opens up the possibility of even more new matchups.
it’s genuinely insane and dishonest for Ariel to say that “the fans pressured the UFC to make 300…” - Dana hyped it without making a main event, the fans have no ability to pressure the UFC lol
Two weeks ago he said the exact thing you’re saying now dude doesn’t even know what his own takes are anymore lol.
Hey, it's the Combat Sports Hour.
Agree w GC seeing astroboy actually getting a title shot made me laugh
This glaze session was tough to get through even for Ariel. Nickal and Zheng fights on the main card of 300 is questionable at best. Put those 2 fights on 301 and it improves both cards.
If you remember it's not the fans that were expecting a crazy UFC 300 event it was Dana White constantly talking about it like it was going to be some Grand event that nobody had ever seen in their life
It’s weird how Ariel likes and covers the wwe but doesn’t like Colby playing a character
Brazil couldnt even sell out the last ppv
Shoulda put Bo Nickal’s ass on the 301 card in Brazil. If he wants to fight another can he should do it in Brazil, not taking up a main card slot at UFC 300. Especially when there are two former champions that are in WAY bigger/better fights on the prelims. Neither of them are even ranked. Zero business being on the main card of UFC 300.
Who is on prelims?
Love mark coleman god bless his family I’m glad there okay
Ariel complains about everything but if the fans complain he says stop just dont watch or dont buy the ppv
Don't buy it? I haven't paid for a pay per view in years 😂
This segment was hilarious haha
What about Aspinall on the 301 card?
Against Blaydes to get that loss back? Or were you thinking about someone else?
Mokeav did have a lack luster performance than Erceg it's true. But you have ti consider that Mokeav was fighting a much higher level opponent in Alex Perez (ex title contender) than Erceg fought is Schnell.
You could ask rhetorically about what could have been with every UFC PPV card. If the UFC were managed by the likes of Scott Coker, Eddie Hearn or Donn Davis -- rather than by the incompetent sociopath -- every card would be better. With 301 it's simply the case that crap-for-brains booked the entire top tier Brazilian roster for 299 and 300. Now they've having to bring guys out of retirement merely to have a semblance of a card for 301.
300 is a fckn amazing card any of the 3 top fights would be a amazing main event 300 is loaded top to bottom 301 will still be a banger ufc dose not put on bad shows every once in a while u will get a boring fight or a injury but dam near every card is a banger
I agree with you. I don't know why people think there's anything wrong with the 300. There are a TON of good fighters and interesting match-ups up and down the card.
Coleman is a legendary human
Agreed on how we sell fights these days. Understand that I am obviously in the minority, but I am old school and not a fan of martial arts being turned into WWE. Maybe I just need to disconnect MMA from my interpretation of "martial arts."
Why are you saying “we” you and the rat are not involved at all the rat isn’t even allowed on ufc property so all he does is complain meanwhile he says misfits and triller are legitimate promotions
HFS. It's a word used as a generalized term for a group of people. I don't know who pissed in your cheerios, but it wasn't me, buddy.
21:55 "and then what they say on Ians" got me 😭 Ariel reveals himself as on us nerds and virgins🇺🇸🇺🇸
Why can’t they just take chito to Ecuador? Garry it Ireland? Suga to phx? Brendan Allen to LSU? ilia to Spain? Why is it impossible to get these things done it seems fun and easy
7:50 the Erceg thing is why you need more divisions. 155 165 175 185 195 and you have more fights available and lined up. Here you have the champ fighting a VERY unknown fighter whos ranked #10!! Number 10! Haha imagine #10 at lightweight fighting Islam.....
Which shirt is Conor wearing plz? 🙏
If Alex wins. He'll be the main event. Even if it 3 weeks later.
Jones looking older than Mike Tyson
Why even have a Rio card if you’re not gonna stack it with top rank Brazilians?
Erceg is going to KO Pantoja
Definitely possible
That may or may not happen
Pan subbing his ass rd1-2
Brazil doesnt even deserve Steve Erceg after how they treated Glover retiring
JJ vs Aspinal will never happen!
Why is Ariel gas lighting 6:19
Alex Perez was no joke, Muhammad arguably lost to him. If he were to win that fight, who says he doesn’t get this title shot
They scared of another dagestani dominant champ. Mokaev smokes steve and pantoja in one night
People want to have a better product to buy.
I predicted that Pereira would headline 300 back in December but that it would be against Adesanya. So I was half right.
How soon forget Toronto get ripped off like always. We always get the crap end of the stick when it comes to getting crap cards
301 should be free, no one is paying for that awful card.
Pantoja is the most boring Champ in the UFC 😂 I don’t even know who else could headline 301 that’s from brazil. Everyone has already fought or is going to fight in 300. The UFC really fumbled
We put pressure on them to put a big nain event for 300? That is flat out false. Dana was the source of all the pressure by opening his fat mouth and bragging about how mind blowing 300 will be.
We are having the best stretch of fighting maybe ever an ufc puts on great fights every week
Stone cold steve erceg will win easy
Well said ariel! I need to come work for you. Only smart guy in the media. Go bills
It’s all politics why petr is a one fight a year fighter now smh.
Is this a sport or is it WWE?
Aerial sporting hairy glasses
If Erceg wins, they can arrange for Kai Kara France v Erceg, in Perth. This'd be epic, Australian versus New Zealander - it'll make for a vibrant sibling crowd atmosphere. Aussie and New Zealander flags everywhere, Black Ferns and Boxing Kangaroos... Great television - both nations would come alive. The UFC would have had this as an option in their minds, when Pantoja v Erceg was arranged. Options. ✌😄
If that scenario never occurred when Rob and Izzy fought in Melbourne in front of the biggest crowd UFC ever had, I highly doubt you're gonna see it when two flyweights go at it lol
@@sarcasticgenius8563 Very true, that. I am hopeful though. Big NZ contingent in Perth, & Erceg is a West Aussie. It might come partially close. 😄🤙
UFC has got Sydney locked up for 2 years. NSW government laid out cash
Petr yan needs to retire
Colby sucks. He's a has been. F it ...Mvp vs garry
King of no real take Mr "he is who he is" snooze fest take
Jon's fighting Stipe then bouncing. Tom is nice but yo my man is thick headed. Tom, with the stalking tactics is more likely to get shot than get a shot dealing with Jon like that.
I love how butthurt Arial gets over Colby Chaos Covington 😂
ariel is such a little weasel
Lol ufc 301 is probably the worse card in modern ufc history
Any idiot that wanted a super fight that included GSP, Khabib, Conor or Nate over Alex vs Hill is a casual.