The Ariel Helwani Show

Solomonster covers a lot of ground this week, starting with WWE Night of Champions, Sami Zayn winning the WWE championship, the finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments, Piper Niven putting Jade Cargill on blast on social media, and more (03:56).

Brock Lesnar returned on Raw last night, with Oba Femi accepting his challenge to a Hell in a Cell match. Solomonster breaks down what this means for Femi's title shot, Seth Rollins challenging Roman Reigns, and what the overall SummerSlam card is looking like (25:41).

Next, TNA Slammiversary thoughts with Nic Nemeth regaining the title, Mike Santana’s future, the latest on Road Dogg joining their creative team, and Amazing Red being named to this year’s TNA Hall of Fame class (44:11).

Finally, thoughts on AEW Forbidden Door with Will Ospreay and Mercedes Mone punching their tickets to Wembley Stadium, Maya World’s star-making performance, and how the original card was impacted by injuries and visa issues (49:35).

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with a bit of news and notes (03:28), then welcomes in longtime referee “Big” John McCarthy to discuss all things officiating.

McCarthy covers the controversial ending to Adriano Moraes vs. Phumi Nkuta, the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven stoppage, whether Ciryl Gane landed shots to the back of the Alex Pereira’s head and how Herb Dean handled the call, Michel Pereira having his hair pulled by Shara Bullet, how the doctors treated Ilia Topuria’s damage eye at the White House, and more (13:28).

UFC strawweight title challenger Gillian Robertson is back, discussing how her grappling compares to Mackenzie Dern’s grappling, whether there’s any friction between the two, hoping to submit Dern, how she unwinds when not competing, her marijuana use, career ambitions, and more (1:03:24).

WBO lightweight champion Abdullah Mason joins the show ahead of his Ohio homecoming fight against Albert Bell, having familiarity with his opponent, being willing to take on major challenges like Shakur Stevenson, what’s next, and more (1:31:20).

The Boys in the Back, Petesy Carroll, and special guest Marc Raimondi join Ariel to close the show, touching on Tyson Fury’s next fight, the approaching anniversary of the NWO formation, Ian Machado Garry and Eddie Hearn speaking to Irish media, Max Holloway reacting to Dustin Poirier’s arrest, Merab Dvalishvili’s friendship with Sean O’Malley, and more (1:47:24).

The show wraps up with your Super Chats (2:51:48).

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by recapping a huge combat sports weekend that included thrills from the Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs. Xander Zayas card (10:07), developments in the the Dana White and Eddie Hearn rivalry (33:03), and a fun UFC Baku Fight Night (45:13).

Rafael Fiziev returns after a big win in Baku to talk about fighting again in his home country, getting back on the winning track, scoring his first knockout since 2022, being surprised by Justin Gaethje’s win over Ilia Topuria, not appearing in the new Meta rankings, and more (1:04:12).

Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez joins to discuss his main event booking for UFC’s return to Sacramento, being excited about fighting close to home, lessons learned from his loss to Sean Strickland, recently training with Strickland, thoughts on the White House card, and more (1:31:14).

Inside Boxing’s Dan Canobbio makes his show debut, breaking down the weekend’s action, touching on the fallout from ‘Boots’ vs. Zayas, a potential fight between ‘Boots’ and Vergil Ortiz, what’s next for Ben Whittaker, Turki Alalshikh trying to play peacemaker for Dana White and Eddie Hearn, the current state of Zuffa Boxing, Oleksandr Usyk vacating his titles, Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli being postponed, and more (1:51:05).

UFC strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern is our final guest of the day, discussing her upcoming title defense against Gillian Robertson, why the fight with Zhang Weili isn’t happening, her experience at the Golden Globes, not being able to fight on the White House card, Ronda Rousey’s comeback, playing in celebrity poker games, and more (2:3731).

Ariel covers some news and notes, before answering Super Chats to close the show (3:05:26).

Dan Canobbio and Chris Algieri open the show dissecting Jaron 'Boots' Ennis’ seventh-round stoppage of Xander Zayas in front of a raucous Brooklyn crowd (02:00).

Next, they touch on what's next for 'Boots,' including mention of Terence Crawford and Vergil Ortiz (28:38), as well as unifications against Josh Kelly or Sebastian Fundora (30:15).

Then, they cover Ben Whittaker's very impressive US debut (35:09) and Emiliano Vargas' stoppage win over Bryce Mills (39:58).

Finally, they hit big headlines from the weekend, including Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli being postponed and Teofimo Lopez vs. Rolly Romero taking shape (46:12), plus Oleksandr Usyk relinquishing his heavyweight titles, likely to fight Deontay Wilder (47:59).

Petesy Carroll, Chuck Mindenhall, and Ben Fowlkes reunite for this week’s episode of The Craic.

First up, they discuss Ian Machado Garry’s move to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Talent Agency ahead of his upcoming title fight (8:30).

Another high-profile Hearn client is Tom Aspinall, prompting a conversation about the current state of the heavyweight champion’s career (24:02).

Dustin Poirier’s recent arrest footage also sent shockwaves through the MMA community. The lads discuss the fallout for the retired fan-favorite (51:10).

The boys then react to the UFC officially releasing the global viewership figures for the White House card (59:50).

The latest UFC rankings have also stirred plenty of debate (1:02:25), then Petesy breaks the news that Oleksandr Usyk has vacated his world titles (01:10:55).

To close, the trio answer your Super Chats (01:16:55).