I'm looking at the lineup for the next three weekends... I might not even watch any of them lol. Although there are a couple of fights thrown in there that I want to see. I've been itching to watch that Manon Fiorot girl fight again (she looks like a female Stephen Thompson). I suppose the Costa/Vettori card has potential, but overall, not impressed with this month's lineup.
I’m sure having two PPV cards back to back is hurting some of the other cards. With how stacked 267 and 268 are, I’m not upset that the fight night cards suck this month.
This stuff with Ariel Helwani beefing with random people in the MMA community is kinda funny, but man... Schaub, Josh Thomson, and Big John are idiots. I can't stand to listen to any of them.
Big John and Josh Thomson were ripping on Ariel because he facilitates interviews with fighters because he, himself, hasn't fought and also pointing out that they "own" their show and he doesn't.... I don't think that's quite the argument they think it is lol. Like, he was hired by ESPN and SBNation to facilitate these interviews because people want to hear from the fighters who actually competed or are about to compete.... There's clearly a reason it works. But it's not hard to grasp why those two don't understand that considering how much they just like to hear themselves talk.
I think they are just jealous because Ariel has built his own brand that is far more popular than anything they are doing. The argument that you have to be a former fighter or ref is absolutely ridiculous. If anything I’ve seen that former fighters often make for terrible hosts/journalists.
That's why I don't understand what point they actually think they're proving here... All three of them are saying that Ariel needs guests to get anyone to watch him because people don't want to tune in just to hear him talk about MMA, as if it's an insult....that's the entire point of his show. He's facilitating interviews with relevant people like a talk show. The ironic thing is that Thomson/Big John actually compared Schaub (instead of Ariel) to late night television hosts like Kimmel. The two of them even tried to say "we don't like bothering the fighters" as if that makes them honorable and makes Ariel look like a scumbag. I don't get it.
Yeah, that’s incredibly dumb. The fighters must like Ariel/the exposure they get from interviews with him if he’s lasted this long. Funny this is I could listen to Ariel talk about MMA for hours. Dude has a ton of knowledge, isn’t biased and talks about important things that people may not want him to talk about. I don’t get how anyone could be hating on him. I don’t know much about Thompson so but Schaub is an absolute moron and I don’t get how anyone could listen to that douche. Big John is ok, but the sports evolved and dude is stuck in the past.
Ariel pointing out that fighters line up to come on his show for free while Schaub pays them to come on his, or tells them if they want on Rogan they have to do his show first, basically ruined Schaub’s entire argument
I’ve got a lot more respect for Ariel in recent years than I did when he first started but my impression of him was based off of responses from the UFC community. Now I kinda see how beneficial he was to covering the sport before that league became legitimized. Schaub generally still sounds like a thick headed casual who spends too much time in the comments of social media posts. Personally I am pretty excited to see Rodriguez vs Dern. Two exciting prospects who almost always deliver a good fight.
Yeah Ariel is very neutral for me which is why I like him. You don’t really tune in for his “hot takes” or hyperbole which is refreshing. I used to like Big John and still respect him for all that he’s contributed, but I also think he’s way too full of himself. He thinks that because he was so instrumental in creating the rule set that he’s somehow infallible. Nothing is ever ambiguous or up for interpretation - he’s the final word on everything MMA.
Schaub was tolerable when he just went on the fight companion thing and it was more casual banter about the fights happening. But being on Rogan so much made him think he’s some intellectual commentator. He’s the typical dumb guy who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else.
The worst (or best) part about Ariel’s rant was that when Schaub listens, he knows all of it is true, and he knows all the listeners know all of it is true.
Yeah, he more or less just repeats the consensus from Twitter/MMA media and speaks with a lot of hyperbole (everyone's "a beast"). There's usually not much substance to what he says. Which is why people make fun of him when he goes on Rogan's podcast because he'll make some definitive statement, Joe will disagree, and then he'll flip flop immediately.
Ariel, Schaub, John, Josh are all insufferable in their own ways. My enjoyment of the sport increased immensely when I stopped listening to all these jokers.
I like Ariel but that's probably because I don't listen to him regularly. He has this very unique trolling/comedic energy. I guess it's just deadpan? Idk but he's a cool dude in my book. He's doing cool stuff with The Ringer right now and doing live pods during the weigh ins and post shows directly after for any PPV.
He was treated and talked to like dog shit for many years, but sticking to his guns and love for the sport paid off for him and I’m happy to see him laughing at dorks like Schaub below his level.