What's wrong with PFL? Ariel Helwani offers harsh criticism

[@josiericaro3347]

Helwani is a lot more honest now that he doesnt have his own helwani broadcast attached to the card. Just a coincidence i bet.

[@ethantrent297]

He’s been pretty clear he doesn’t get paid by the promotion. He made his money on that through Dazn or whatever the distributor was.

[@CJM23]

PFL production is unwatchable. Nobody paces a show better than UFC.

[@zenking4647]

Bellator just entered the chat.. sucks even more.

[@foster4922]

@@zenking4647 boxing production takes all the marbles

[@uriel6374]

How can you bring in quality productions when a single or sometimes multiple guys on a card is getting paid millions of dollars that the likes of Ariel and the rests of the mma community advocate for and then that card only brings in 300k to 500k.

[@Pred439]

@@zenking4647 not sure what you were watching, but Bellator had 10 times the production and atmosphere of the PFL. At least Bellator felt like it was in an Arena. PFL always feels like it’s set up in an empty sound studio with piped in audience noise.

[@HMWSports]

Cage Warriors has fantastic pacing.

[@King_JappyJoe]

Never forget when Ariel was praising tf out of PFL just because they were signing Ngannou. Same thing he did with AEW, jist lies to his audience while hes taking a check and then immediately changes tune when the money stops.

[@pradleybee7828]

You must not understand how basic business works lol and must have never watched the PFL, it’s garbage..

[@King_JappyJoe]

@pradleybee7828 why would I watch the pfl? That wasnt my point, my point is ariel just pushes whatever pays him biasedly and then wonders why those videos get 10k views

[@beatsNstrings]

I said that season format was stupid when they announced it, all these fans told me it was better than ufcs model but none of them watched it. Ariel was on the bandwagon too

[@connor_walker]

People are allowed to change their opinions?

[@uriel6374]

They are in this mess partly because of Ariel because he's the one who's Gaslighting Francis so much so that the pfl gave Francis more than 10 mil per fights and the freedom to do whatever he wants outside of pfl unbeknown to them that Francis will never ever promote their brand even tho they gave him an executive position don't know why they gave him that but the reality is Francis was never a household name in the mma world unless you attached the ufc brand in front of him.

[@curtisgreen4620]

Ariel is the ultimate beta male which means he is prone to changing his opinion as he sees fit

[@drewdrewson1384]

@@connor_walker it's been obvious the pfl's "season" idea was dumb for many years now. This is like Jake Tapper finally discovering an endless was was dumb 20 years into it and then trying to act like it was clear from the beginning.

[@RealMattKiefer]

Rick: “some of these guys are fighting four times and I don’t wanna see them fight one” Pure savage

[@drewdrewson1384]

if Belal, leon, magomed, pantoja, merab, NASSOURDINE were not in the ufc they would all also not want to be seen by 95% of fans.

[@acecool72]

Plus half the time they are fighting the same fighter

[@charlescorkery9794]

Too many fights, stupid rapper that when on forever, Dan Hardy in jeans on the biggest night of the year, Dan Hardy calling EVERYBODY "my friend", fighters being introduced and beginning their walk-then some muppet stopping them, then greenlighting them, introducing FOUR people before each belt and cheque presentation-the muppets running the PFL, over long ad breaks between the end of a fight and the winner being announced. On and on it goes, the production levels need complete overhauling. Brendan Loughnane is an ORDINARY fighter. Dakota is a STAR. She should have headlined and the card would have gone out on a bang.

[@SpyroTek]

Agreed with most of this but what have jeans got to do with anything 😂

[@abiolaadedeji1868]

​@@SpyroTek it just looks extremely unprofessional and b-league, imagine the commentary squad wearing jeans to ufc 300

[@SpyroTek]

@@abiolaadedeji1868 That would be fine.

[@DasFlippityFlop]

Pfl needs to get kinda gimmicky. Atleast for the short term. Jake Paul mma fight would be a good start (perhaps Nate?) but if they were able to do a couple celebrity Fights or atleast big name mma fights ( Romero Vs whoever) I think it would greatly improve their product. Imagine a card with Nate, Masvidal , Jake, ngannou. I’d pay just to support the cause but they’ve never given me anything to get excited about.

[@madsocsci]

That's exactly the kicker. They have the money/ability/people, but continue to drip drip drip mediocre shows. No excitement.

[@josiericaro3347]

First off they cant afford that fight secondly nate will never fight in the PFL. Hes said this many times

[@DasFlippityFlop]

@@josiericaro3347 Nate can’t even spell his name half the time and it’s 4 letters long. If he will get humiliated and dominated by Jake Paul I think he would probably fight an mma fight considering that’s his profession.

[@PureLife473]

They gave Franciscsll the money

[@Beeydb163]

PFL is to complicated to follow😂

[@Born-Again512]

The Pereira/Ankalaev/Rountree was a terrible example. Before UFC 307 everyone wanted Pereira/Ank, and that fight is 1 of the biggest for 2025.

[@grgyosh]

So you think dangestani draw money😂their inbreds kids and kids won’t buy even 1 ppv

[@notthisguyagain8557]

The fact that most of their fights go to a decision is a turn off.

[@CMc_39]

Don Davis is like the Tony Khan of MMA. Product doesn’t do enough to excite people yet he’ll do interviews acting like it’s doing amazing

[@brettblack6321]

When PFL purchased Bellator, I was hoping to see a promotion based system where champ from regional promoted to season, winner promoted to Bellator Champ Series. Keep the tournament/season for young fighters hungry for money who could use the extra exposure. With the Bellator Brand being used for PPV in place of PFL killing their own product with the super fight series while building off/on a well known brand.

[@uriel6374]

Your supposed top guy brings in 10k ppv buys and you paid him more than 5 million dollars and not only that you paid the other unknown guys each a million dollars. I mean in their previous card they paid more than 2 fighters a million dollar cheque. So how much did that card brings in? You do this constantly every single card , how are you going to survive.

[@josiericaro3347]

How much longer can PFL afford to pay a million dollars to multiple fighters a year who bring almost nothing to the company ?

[@King_JappyJoe]

Their only hopee was that guy beating francis and making him a superstar. But he didnt speak english so doubt he woulda worked out anyway

[@drewdrewson1384]

@@King_JappyJoe if you think the PFL wanted Francis to lose that fight....yeeeeeeeesh, I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale that would be perfect for you.

[@King_JappyJoe]

@drewdrewson1384 You need to work on your reading comprehension. I never stated they wanted Francis to lose, I only said beating Francis was the only way PFL could have built a superstar. Im sure you're equally as terrible at negotiating Real Estate.

[@acecool72]

But with as much as they are paying France’s he will probably only fight once a year

[@dano1307]

thank you for saying this. Don Davis will deff hear this.

[@amandar4980]

Yea no one cares about a tournament for 1 million dollars. The fighter cares but the fighter not paying the bills the fans are. The fans want entertainment fun fights with back story..

[@jeffreysmith9837]

1 day tournaments are cool but I had no idea pfl even had an event. They suck at promoting.

[@DasFlippityFlop]

They Should’ve made it more entertaining. There’s nobody to root for really

[@uriel6374]

@@jeffreysmith9837 how are they going to promote or even have a good production when there's no money left in the bank. This is why you don't listen to fans or mma pundits when it comes to the money businesses. You don't pay fighters millions of dollars just because the fighter or the mma world says so, what they brings to the table is what they will get. Nobody on the planet pays a guy 10 million dollars and then he in return brings in 300k .

[@jeffreysmith9837]

@@uriel6374 it would be in ESPN's best interest to promote it and ESPN has money

[@Ron_Burgundy1009]

I watched PFL for around 6 months. And literally every single Event was boring as f... lol

[@pradleybee7828]

Watched the PFL on Friday and was like wtf is this 😂 I’ve seen local promotions have more fans and excitement

[@MirsTrip]

I tuned in for about a half hour and closed the stream when the rapper started his performance

[@Itz_Tricky420]

idk what y'all aren't watching WWE if u care for theatrics lol im here for fights and the fights on this card were all bangers this probably was the best ppl card ever and I watch them all i could careless about production

[@walterbell2763]

Alycia Baumgardner is your super fight, and Dakota should be your next fight, Alycia.

[@porkchopexpress1]

I think the regional tournaments are a great idea, use them as a feeder system to the main roster

[@gamebredo8880]

Ufc will be the top dog for atleast 20 years minimum

[@Mendoza627]

Problem with the system is that once you become a champion, you have to go through the whole system again it’s almost like being a champion doesn’t really matter. Let the champion fight the winner of the tournament, but being a champion matter

[@danielkeegan6002]

PFL has good fighters they need to copy the UFC model and promote! The playoff model sucks and nobody cares I also don’t want to see somebody win the championship just cuz another fighter was compromised and had to fight. How have they not figured this out!

[@sillynelson1]

PFL needs to just absorb Bellator already and get rid of the playoff and point system. Try to put on one solid card a month and just have the best fighters fight each other.

[@stevec5034]

Where is the harsh criticism of McGregor?

[@JavierOchoa-f8w]

They need to hire me I’ll get them out of trouble 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@rashneelwalla380]

I agree get the big dawg in there

[@bernardocisneros4402]

Maybe hire you to make tacos and agua de orchata but that's about it.

[@JavierOchoa-f8w]

@ ok Mr Hitler whatever u say 👍🏼 btw your mom was enjoying my taco 🌮 the other night 😉😉😉😉

[@JavierOchoa-f8w]

@@bernardocisneros4402 why not you’re mom seems enjoy my taco 🌮 every night 😉😉😉

[@fraserlewis6905]

They don't promote there shows lol

[@antejokic6485]

Ever since the UFC bought Strikeforce they have become by far number 1 MMA promotion in the world and the only place to be if you wanna be the best in the world. You may not like it but it is the way it is. Chandler and MVP came from other place before it got sold, Askren came from ONE and now Reiner De Ridder also. Jiri was the champ in Rizin,wanted to go to the UFC, hell even Geathje was PFL champ before he came over.

[@babahadjimohamed9339]

No one talked about shamil and what he could do at UFC WW division, I mean the french MMA channels talked a lot about him but here you need a manger who knows them

[@DocGatt]

I'm rooting for the PFL 🤛

[@kshitijdobriyal3003]

dana is always right in terms of game

[@darynvasquez6152]

It's about time

[@adamwallace7638]

They should go all Bellator and lose the PFL, it’s a thousand times stronger brand, PFL screams inauthenticity and was created as a quick build and sell company

[@erickbolden2584]

Funny how Ariel’s tone has changed since he isn’t getting money from PFL to promote their cards on his channel.

[@MyWifeSally0202]

Quite an accusation there. Any proof?

[@blackslav1497]

@@MyWifeSally0202 no proof

[@Chris-e9y4e]

​@@MyWifeSally0202i got proof bro

[@Chris-e9y4e]

100%lol

[@pradleybee7828]

Did you watch it? It was garbage lol nothing he’s saying isn’t true

[@bojiden9830]

COMBINE YOUR DAMN ROSTER & HAVE EVERYONE FIGHT EVERYONE. Why would pfl buy bellator yet still keep them separated? Also why is there a separate European league & MENA league? EVERYONE SHOULD FIGHT EVERYONE😮

[@davidcoomber4050]

The UFC has Molly and Paddy and Brendan and Dakota are not offered a place madness

[@PlaydoughPlato]

Musaev fight was pretty cool but the pacing between fights was awful

[@rocker1jul2010]

MMA = UFC. Period.

[@sanatsrivastava2814]

When you only try to make money out of a passion project, it will fall apart.

[@MillionaireclubFilmEntertainme]

They should've kept Scott Coker those PFL dummies

[@clintrenicker5017]

The fight game is personalities and production

[@Chris-e9y4e]

PFL goes under, Francis is a free agent again🎉🎉🎉

[@mcd8732]

Getting rid of Bjorn and the tournament model destroyed bellator...which it too bad...I miss those days

[@dantemarotta356]

Agreed 💯 Bjorn and the Bellator early years were great imo. I really enjoyed Bellator

[@zenking4647]

The fight Sat's constantly on the screen sucks. The dudes that won a million.. will be the reason pfl is bankrupt soon. There biggest star is Francis and he ain't no draw.

[@Gorgonzola0987]

PT treated like TRASH!

[@Beeydb163]

PFL is to complicated to follow😂. I don’t watch soccer because of the leagues.

[@omarnieves2030]

Let me leave real feedback from the streets no one knows what pfl is

[@gordon1124]

LET PETER SPEAK

[@natertotgaming1246]

Agreed

[@mrvgoat1294]

I know my promo can beat them give me PFL money I will make PFL and One bend the knee within 2 years and the UFC in 5

[@naturoidz2714]

The real question is how Boxing Champion, Hall of Famer, Carl Froch have less subscribers than Ariel, but Froch have more views. Ariel been buying subscription in this Weasel channel.

[@beatsNstrings]

Ariels been building his base full time for a decade plus. Has he taken a week off in 15 years? Mma journalist of the year 10x in a row. Thats why he has so many subs. If froch has a big name but hasnt been doing it as long then that easily explains why he would have more views, less subs

[@pht9317]

​@beatsNstrings Ariels been at this for 25+ years also his channel not that old so they arent legacy subs

[@naturoidz2714]

@@beatsNstrings You know a lot about Ariel, but you don't even know this isn't MMA Hour.

[@beatsNstrings]

@ why does youtube say the channel was started in 2009? 15 year old channel?

[@naturoidz2714]

@@beatsNstrings Maybe, Ariel's personal youtube account. Because he's an independent weasel now.

[@bloodyknuckleshowandedward170]

Bellator atleast had some fun cards and tourneys Pfl is dumb

[@brianouellette4456]

Their announce team is literally meant to call golfing - they are way too fake. Needs more enthusiasm!!!! If they don’t care about the product why would we watching ?

[@Aaron-kj8dv]

If i was king of PFL I'm trying to think what i would do to make it entertaining. First thing is recognize you'll never compete with UFC. that ship has sailed. Maybe be like a minor league development promotion for UFC, but even then UFC develops their own talent. Like another commentor said, become a gimmick promotion. Maybe host ex professional athletes fighting. Maybe do the tournament for $1 million but make it some country wide thing where professionals arent allowed to sign up. Get someone from each region to represent. I dont know, theyre really in a tough spot now.

[@CraveThatCoin]

The closest competitor to UFC is One FC nothing else comes close

[@pht9317]

OneFC is exactly like PFL, they dont get there guys fights, RCR told fighters not to go to One.

[@The_Reality_Filter]

@@pht9317 ONE Muay Thai fights are way more exciting than 90% of UFC fights

[@dennyroman7935]

pfl is Arab money they ll build it slow they got the money

[@pht9317]

Even Arabs arent stupid enough to fork out millions for 15k ppv buys.

[@weez5987]

UFC >>>>>> pfl not even close 🥱

[@danielmma1875]

That’s the problem. Pfl trying to compete with ufc to be number 1 mma promotion when it’s never gonna happen. Just be number 2 and run ur company like this. It’s like aew trying to be number 1 wrestling company over wwe never gonna Happen. These promotions gonna go bankrupt trying to do so