The Ariel Helwani Show - BREAKING: Dana White announces HUGE UFC 324 and UFC 325 cards on Paramount, plus Ilia Topuria news; Ariel Helwani reacts

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

Ariel Helwani give his immediate reaction to Dana White's major announcement during halftime of Chiefs-Cowboys on CBS (01:05).Ariel addresses a statement by UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria about his future (02:38), before running down all the UFC 324 matchups announced by White (04:03) and the new main card start time (06:10).Then, he tackles the UFC 325 announcements (07:46), before giving his final thoughts on both cards (08:58).

All right. Hello, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours if you are celebrating Shades of 2019 Thanksgiving. A lot of news in the world of MMA today, a ton of news, and it's kind of sprinkled throughout the day. I say 2019 because the OGs will know that back in 2019 on Thanksgiving day. News broke that Connor McGregor versus Donald Serroney would happen in January of 2020. This a way bigger day in terms of news than that day because so much has happened, so many things to dissect. And so here I am sharing with all of you this news, giving you all the news, breaking it down for all of you, because like I said, a lot has happened and we have answered a lot of questions. And with those answers have come some head scratchers.

But let me break it all down for all of you, and I will bring you up to speed with this video. Here's everything you need to know about what has happened today in the world of MMA, and in particular, the world of the UFC. So earlier today, the first bit of news was that the UFC announced that Dana White was going to go on television during halftime of the Kansas City Chiefs versus Dallas Cowboys game on CBS. They're expecting something crazy like 30, 40 million people, 50 million people. It's a big deal here in the United States. Thanksgiving Day, Cowboys Chiefs, two of the biggest teams in the NFL going toe to toe. They're pretty good right now, the two of them. So a lot of people

would be watching, and we had been waiting for the first slew of announcements for the 2026 schedule for the start of the Paramount Plus era here in the United States and other parts of the world. Nothing had been announced so far. And so when that tweet went out, all right, we all knew it's coming. The news is coming in. Over the last couple days, I had started to hear some of the world. I had started to hear some rumblings about how this card was going to shape up. You'll recall back on Saturday, we said on the post show, it's got to be Patty versus Ilya for the belt. But shortly thereafter, I found out Ilya ain't fighting. And that's why we transition to it's got to be Armin versus Ilya down the line and other things are going to happen. Shortly after that, I sent out a little

cheeky tweet throwing out some fights asking people, how would you feel? if these were the top fights on the first Paramount Plus card. I was just, you know, I was just, you know, taking the temperature of the public. Lo and behold, all of them came to fruition, and Dana White announced all of them. But before we got to the announcement, Ilya went on Twitter and tweeted this, and this obviously explained a lot of what was to come. I won't be fighting in the first quarter of next year. I'm going through a difficult moment in my personal life. I want to focus on my children and resolve.

this situation as soon as possible. I don't want to hold up the division. The UFC will make the matchups needed and as soon as the matters are resolved, I'll let the UFC know I'm ready to begin my return. And so obviously there has been a lot said about Ilya. That's his personal life. I'm not getting into all of that. I do want to wish him the best. A tough time and I'm sure if it's leading to this announcement from him, it has been very tough. And so I want to wish him in his family the best. And hopefully we get to see him back sooner rather than later. I think that this is a very valid reason not to fight. You know, we have seen people fight with things on their mind. There's too much at stake. There's too much at stake right now in his career. He is too big of a start to go

in there compromise, not 100% his heart elsewhere, his mind elsewhere. And so I think that what he is doing is the mature. It is the professional thing to do. And it's the smart thing to do for his career for his brand, for himself, for his family. And so that comes out and everything starts to crystallize. And so let's get to the announcements from UFC President Dana White. Half-time show. You got James Brown there. You got all the guys they throw it to Dana White. Clearly a pre-recorded announcement, but all good. Who cares? And he announces that the main event for the first show of 26, which will take place on January 24th in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, will be Justin Gaichie versus Patty Pimblit for the interim UFC lightweight title.

That's the main event, five-round interim title fight. Co-main event, Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Nunes for the undisputed UFC women's bantamweight title. He also announces Shugashon O'Malley, returning against Songya Dong, very important fight in the 135-pound division. He also announces Waldo Cortez Acosta, as first reported by Waldo Cortez Acosta yesterday on the program, going up against the Black Beast, Derek Lewis. More on that one in a moment as well. And he also announces John Silva against Arnold Allen. That was previously reported earlier this week by MMA fighting. And so those five fights, while not classified as the main card are a very good five set of five.

fights and would be a tremendous main card. Later, like literally minutes later, via a press release, the UFC announced that Umar and Magamadov versus Davidson Figurado will also be on that card. They also announced that Alexa Grasso will be returning on that card to go up against Rose Namayunis, or as Dana White called her in his IG live, Rose Namajunus, blows my mind that after all these years, multiple runs as champions. As champion, he's still misperienced. He's still pronounces her name, mispronounced a couple others as well, but who's to check, who's to check. Via this press release, it was also announced that Atiba Gautier will be going up against

Andre Poulyev as well. Those are all the fights that were announced for UFC 324, Gaichi v. Pimbleau on January 24th in Las Vegas. Perhaps most important of all regarding that fight and all numbered shows moving forward, they announced that they will start, the main card that is, at 9 p.m. Eastern time. They dabbled with this back in 2011, few shows. I definitely remember UFC 129 started at 9 p.m. Eastern time in Toronto, GSP versus Jake Shields.

And then Dana White said that the data suggested people like the 10 p.m. start, 7 in the West. Well, the new era is upon us, my friends. And us old guys love it. Us media guys, I can assure you love it. And I would suspect that the European fans will love it as well, because this is huge news. 9 p.m. Eastern start time, 6 p.m. in the West. That would be, if my math is correct, a 2 a.m. start time for our fans over in Europe,

depending on where you live. But you get the point. This is an hour earlier than usual. That is huge. It says here via the press release, 9 p.m. Eastern, early prelims will start at 5 p.m. Eastern. Also something of note for the international fans. This is for all fans in the U.S. and Latin America, the Paramount Plus coverage. In Australia, Paramount Plus subscribers will enjoy the pre-limp fights for all marquee numbered events

and all 30 UFC fight night events included with their subscription and no additional cost. That suggests that if you're in Australia and we'll have more on Australia in a moment, you'll still have to pay for the main cards. All right? So that was announced. He also then went on IG, IG Live, that is, and announced UFC 325's main event, which earlier in the day I reported that UFC 325 will be happening a week later, January 31st, here in the United States, February 1st in Australia and Sydney, to be exact, and the main event is going

to be Alexander Volcanowski defending his featherweight title against Diego Lopez, the man he beat to win the vacant title, not that long ago, back in April in Miami, of course. So now you're getting back-to-back numbered events. I mean, really, like, they could do the numbered events all they want these days. They don't really have to stick to 13, and we'll find out. Back-to-back, very rare, as you all know, but now you're not asking people to pay an additional $70-80, and so if you've got a title on the card, you're probably going to call it UFC 320-something, 3-30-something, you know, the numbered event thing.

and make it feel bigger, make it feel more important than a quote-unquote fight night. So those are all the fights that as of now, Dana White has announced. We get the picture a little bit regarding the beginning of 2026. Now let me react. Now let me tell you my thoughts. Those five fights that he announced on CBS are tremendous. They're great fights. Those are some of the best fighters in the UFC, some of the most popular fighters in the UFC.

I think it is an absolute travesty. I think it is incredibly insulting. I think it is asinine to headline a show with an interim title over an undisputed title. I think it is an insult to the supposed greatest female fighter of all time. The one that the UFC and Dana Wayne in particular has told us time and again is the greatest of all time. Amanda Nunes is coming out of retirement. Amanda Nunes is coming out of retirement. to fight the two-time Olympic gold medalist, the PFL champ turned UFC champion, who has defied the odds,

moving down from 55 to 45 to 35, and has become champion and a dominant UFC champion. There's a story there. There's the ATT split. They were training partners. Amanda leaves. She goes and retires.

She comes back. I mean, it is a promoter's dream, and you have now said to the public, it is not as important as an interim title fight, an interim title fight, by the way, that does not feature a number one contender. Because the number one contender at 155 pounds is a guy named Armand Serukian, and he's not involved in this fight. And of course, the champion Iliu Tuporia is not involved in this fight.

This is a makeshift fight. This is as prestigious as a BMF title. God bless. I said I wanted to see Patty fight for the beach. belt. God bless. I said Justin, you know, I think you need to win a couple more. He said he was going to retire unless he got a title fight. I guess he's not retiring. He's fighting for an interim title. But this is a bogus fight. And it's insane to me that it is headlining over Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Nunes. On paper, Patty versus Justin, if Patty wasn't fighting Ilya and Ilya's

supposed to fight Armin, on paper, Patty versus Justin is a fine fight to determine the number one contender to fight Ilya and or Armin. Ilya won that belt back in June. I don't even think you need an interim title fight. Honestly, it should have been the co-main event five-round, number one contender fight, Ilya versus Armin, second half of the year. What's the problem with that? And now what you just said, because he reiterated this in the Instagram live, the winner

of this fight is going to fight Ilya. What happens to Armin? Armand's going to have to fight who? What is going on? What does Armand Surukin have to do to do to? get a shot at the belt now. I know he had the fight back in January. He got hurt. Sue the guy. He sat patiently. He went out there. He steamrolled right through Dan Hooker. He did exactly what he had to do. He did what Hamzad and Islam did not do. He finished his opponent

on the ground in dominant, impressive fashion. And now what is he? Now he's just floating in the wind. And he's not even next, apparently. Now, of course, everything could change. Nothing really means anything. They make up the rules as they go along. But to put Justin Patty in the interim title shot, slot, and then have the winner of that fight, fight Ilya is insane to me. And worse than that, worse than that, because we have seen interim title fights that have felt a little Fugazi. I cannot believe that they are headlining this card with that fight. And I cannot believe that you have Kayla versus Amanda Nunes, which some people may say is the biggest and most significant women's

title fight of all time. I'm not going to forget about Nunes versus Siamis. I'm not going to forget about Cyborg v. Genia. I'm not going to forget about all of Ronda Rousey's fights, Misha Tate, Bechko Heia, Alexis Davis, on and on it goes. I'm not going to ignore Holly Home, of course, the Nunes fight. I'm not even going to forget about Holly Home versus Misha Tate back at UFC 196, UFC 200, Nunes versus Tate, all that and then some. Kail Harrison versus Amanda Nunes is in that discussion. And when you factor in the return of Nunes, and you factor in the ATT storyline, teammates turn rivals, how in the world are you going to headline an interim title fight over that one? How are you going to put

that beneath an interim title fight? And an interim title fight, once again, that does not feature the number one contender. I mean, it's, it's, if I'm Nunes and Harrison, I'm happy, I'm getting paid, I'm fighting the UFC, I'm deep down insulted, I'm deep down insulted that they think this less of me. I cannot believe it. When I heard about it, initially earlier this week, I was like, there's no way they're going to do this. There's no way they're going to do this. There's no way. And they've done it. And I know that Connor versus Chad Mendez headlined UFC 199, and that was for the interim belt. There's a big difference. Connor McGregor was supposed to fight for the undisputed title. And oh, by the way, Connor McGregor was the biggest star in the

sport. It's not like one of these guys was supposed to fight for the undisputed title, and it was pulled out to the best of our knowledge, to the best of our knowledge. Maybe it was supposed to be Patty versus Ilya and Ilya couldn't make that walk. Maybe, but Patty and Connor Circa 2015. It has to be, it has to be Kayla versus Amanda as the main event. Again, let me reiterate. This is no knock on Patty and Justin. I think that it is a fine fight and it should be the number of contender to fight the winner of Armin versus Ilya. But there is, ah, there's a time-honored tradition in this business, the undisputed belt has to go on top. It has to. And now you have just told people that it is lesser than, drives me insane. I could go on and on about this, but I think you get

the point. And so those top two fights are there. And then you're getting Sean O'Malley versus Song Yadong, no notes. No notes. Absolutely no notes. I think that's a fine fight. I think it's a great fight. It's a great comeback fight for Sean. He's got to get back on track. Big opportunity for Song Yadong. Had the Henry Sehudo fight. Great fight. Love it. Waldo Cortez Acosta. is a great fight as well. Love that fight as well. That is a Waldo Cortezza v. Derek Lewis. Waldo told us yesterday. This guy is unbelievable. He doesn't get his December 6 or December 13th date, but he gets a high-profile fight against the guy who's going to stand and trade with him. And if he beats Derek Lewis, he is now in the mix in the heavyweight division. I could tell you

there was some talk of Rico. I told you, Rico Verhoeven has been talking to the UFC and that is still on the table. One of the ideas floated was Rico versus Derek Lewis on this card. Obviously not happening, that's, you know, that's the thinking. Let's see what happens with Rico. He's got options right now, and he may not even go to the UFC, but that was one of the things that was bandied about. I could tell you that. In the end, it's Waldo Cortez Acosta. What a story. Great to have him on the show on Wednesday going up against Derek Lewis. I love the Arnold Dalland versus John Silva fight. Great bounce back fight for John Silva. Opportunity for Arnold Allen to fight one of the top dogs, one of the most popular fighters in the way class. I love everything about it. Truly. That's a great fight as

well, Grasso Nami Yunus. I love that. I love the Atiba Gautier fight. The rest of the car. On paper, I have no real issues with the matchups. I have an issue with the placement and call me a stickler, but I think these things matter. If Ilya Teporia was not going to fight, I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. What's wrong with the Mandanunus versus Kayla Harrison headlining the first Paramount Plus card? What's wrong with that? And then you respond with with the biggest fight of Pimlet's career and in the co-main event and then you've got Gaichi coming back

after his latest win and you've got all those other fights. What is wrong with that? I just, I get fired up over these things because I think you're sending the wrong message to the public and to the fighters as well. The Sydney card, I mean. Lerone Murphy has won nine fights in a row.

Mofov has won nine fights in a row. Leroyov is coming off a spinning back elbow. He should be next. He should be next. next. They like Diego Lopez. I like Diego Lopez. He's got a great win over John Silva under his belt. It was a frenetic fight and it will be a fun fight. There's no doubt about it. But I have a hard time just to find that he deserves it over Lerone Murphy or even Mossar Avlov. And maybe that's the fight that we're getting next. I don't know. I've reached out to his team and I

haven't heard anything yet. But that's the next one. And so we are getting Alex in in Australia. That's great. And it's a week later. That's great. It's right before the Olympics. That's great. But I thought, I long ago was off the Lorone fighting for the belt train because I knew that they were going to do this. But I thought after he scored that spinning back elbow against Aaron Pico, because I think they were going to try to give it to Aaron Pico, if I'm being honest, had he won that fight, I thought in that moment it was going to go to Lorone and long ago right after the Notcha UFC card. It became very clear that they were going to go in the direction of Diego Lopez and Them's the Brakes. And you've seen, you know, you've seen Lorone and Diego and

Mossar kind of allude to this. Let me quickly look at some things here before I say goodbye. some tweets Lorone Murphy tweeting missing the opportunity to fight one of the feather eight goats is what hurts me the most it's not about who's the best anymore it's about who's most popular amen to that Lorone again 9 p.m. Eastern start time is tremendous that's probably the best news of the day no doubt about it the figurado versus Normaga made off I mean like all the matchups are great but I can again I am flabbergasted I am flabbergasted I am flabbergasted that Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Nunes is the co-main event to an interim title fight.

Undisputed, fine. There was once a time where it was like, hey, if it's undisputed, it has to be main event, and then if it's the higher weight class, it has to be, and now it's just like, none of it matters. Let me see here. Let me see if there's anything else that I need to say to all of you.

I'm looking through my tweets. also worth noting January 24th is a pretty late start like usually we would get the first fight you know second week of January the first fight card it's a pretty late start to the year um but here we are perhaps it's because of all the uh the football here's jedy goodman we've seen fighters win the championship and then rematch the former champion in their first title defense in this case. Foke beats Lopez for the vacant title is now rematching him in his first defense. Yeah, it's wild. Because, you know, Lopez wasn't the champ. And he's fighting him again. Seems as though I have caught you up. And so let me know below. How do you feel? How do you

feel about Kayla, Amanda being co-main to Gaichi Pimbleau? How do you feel about Ilya's announcement? How do you feel about them going with Gaetchi versus Pimbled for the interim title? How do you feel about that matchup? Should it have been perhaps, I don't know, Patty versus Armin? Maybe Patty versus Armin has the normal contender fight. If it wasn't, Armin told us this week, he told us, I'm ready to go in January. Why couldn't we have done Patty versus Armin for the interim belt. And then the win, that would have been a very, very suitable number one contender fight. Why couldn't that have been the fight? Why did my voice just do that? Anyway, let me know what you think about that matchup. Think about that being an interim title fight, that being above the

the Kayla versus Amanda fight. Rest of the card as well, Waldo and Derek, Umar, and Davison, song and Shuga, Arnold, and John Puliev and Atiba, Nami Yunus, and Grasse, all at the top of my dome, by the way. And then, and then I want to know what you think about the Diego Lopez versus, um, Diego Lopez versus Alex Wokinovsky fight. I want to know what you think about that as well. That's the following week in Sydney, like I said, Saturday night here in America, regular time, 9 p.m., but a little bit, you know, a little bit earlier over in Sydney on a Sunday. That's what they're used to over there. So let me know in the comments below. Thank you for your support. Like, subscribe, do all those things that you do. It is, thanks.

Thanksgiving around these parts. So I'm going to go back to watching Home Alone with my family. Meanwhile, there are former UFC Walterway champions who are talking shit about me on Twitter when they're supposed to be with their family. I don't know. It sounds like you're very bothered when you're claiming to not be bothered by me. What's up with that? It's a weird world we live in, my friends. But when they say they're not bothered, I guess they're really bothered. And then when they play the same old hits, we know that there's someone writing their material. And that to me is the saddest part of all. It's the same old hits. Come up with better stuff. Come up with more original stuff when it's the same old hits. It just comes across as a little bit that that I can say that. I don't

know. I'm just speaking the truth. I'm just speaking for my heart and I think I'm speaking for the people as well. But you let me know. Let me know what you think about that one too. Let me know if you think that Kamar Usman should be next for the Welterweight title. If you're reacting like the way I see you reacting to this news. I can't imagine how you would react to an Islam versus Kamarro fight, but maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm out of touch. One last thing just popped up here. Do I have something here for you? Yeah, that's it. That's it. So again, UFC 324 has been announced exciting times. We know our first date. We know our first fight. This is good. and we know our second date as well

we know the lineup all interesting fights I'd love to hear your thoughts Lorone Murphy not happy tweeting before I go I'm going to try to fight every month now Kevin Holland style hashtag new path commiserations to Lorone and to Armin

and to Movsar and to everyone else who wanted to see Kayla versus Amanda headline that first show it's the fight business baby thank you so much appreciate you guys watching again happy thanksgiving much love to you and yours and we'll talk to you next time