In October 2024, Yahoo Sports and Ariel Helwani, the leading voice in combat sports media, partnered to launch Uncrowned, a new combat sports media brand. Uncrowned’s flagship podcast is The Ariel Helwani Show, which features commentary and analysis from Helwani and members of the Uncrowned team, as well as interviews with some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment. After a successful launch in 2024, the goal for The Ariel Helwani Show in 2025 was simple: take the program to the next level. It aimed to achieve this growth in three primary ways.
Guest Interviews: The Ariel Helwani Show set out to increase the number of high-profile guests it hosted on the show. By continuing to bring in the most relevant names in MMA, boxing, and wrestling, the show would cement itself as the preeminent combat sports podcast.
New Formats: In 2025, The Ariel Helwani Show aimed to expand its core podcast into new formats. By finding new storytelling mediums, it would grow its voice, footprint, and audience.
Remote Production: The Ariel Helwani Show airs live from a state-of-the-art studio in the Yahoo New York City office. The goal for 2025 was to increasingly bring the show on the road to be at the epicenter of tentpole combat sports events.
In 2025, The Ariel Helwani Show cemented itself as the preeminent combat sports podcast by increasing its number of high-profile guest interviews, expanding into new formats, and effectively taking the show on the road.
Guest Interviews: The Ariel Helwani Show guest list for 2025 is the who’s who in MMA, boxing, and wrestling. Guests to appear on the show include professional wrestling legends Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Hardy Boyz, Karrion Kross, and Paul Heyman. The show also hosted the biggest names in MMA, including UFC champions Ilia Topuria, Merab Dvalishvili, Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, Dustin Poirier, Tom Aspinall, and Jack Della Maddalena. In addition, champion boxers to appear on the show include Oscar De La Hoya, Terence Crawford, Devin Haney, and Shakur Stevenson. Finally, The Ariel Helwani Show featured interviews with some of the biggest stars in entertainment, including The Rock and Channing Tatum.
New Formats: In 2025, The Ariel Helwani Show expanded its podcast into a new format with the launch of Uncrowned Films. Uncrowned Films serve as a long-form, documentary style extension of the podcast, leveraging Ariel Helwani’s expertise and relationships to explore untold stories in combat sports. Films include “What is BKFC?,” an exploration of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and “What is Fight Circus?,” a look at a unique blend of MMA, wrestling, and comedy. These films are entirely supplemental to the podcast, giving fans another way to consume the storytelling from Helwani and the Uncrowned crew.
Remote Production: Over the past year, The Ariel Helwani Show successfully brought its production on the road to cover tentpole combat sports events. In June, the show broadcast live from The Venetian Resort Las Vegas for UFC International Fight Week. It featured interviews with top MMA stars such as Tom Aspinall, Israel Adesanya, and Merab Dvalishvili, engaged fans with a UFC 317 watch party, and hosted a show immediately following UFC 317 to break down Ilia Topuria’s knockout of Charles Oliveira. Later, in December, The Ariel Helwani Show brought its production to Miami to preview the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua fight. In front of a live audience at the Hard Rock Cafe, the show featured interviews with legendary MMA fighter Jorge Masvidal and UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison. Helwani also answered questions from the audience, helping fans feel closer to the show than ever before. Helwani would later appear as the ringside reporter for the Netflix broadcast of the Paul-Joshua bout, reinforcing his position as the leading voice in combat sports media.
By all measures, The Ariel Helwani Show had a massively successful 2025. It featured interviews with the biggest names in combat sports, expanded into new formats with the launch of Uncrowned Films, and brought its production to Las Vegas and Miami to engage with fans around UFC International Fight Week and the highly-anticipated Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua boxing bout.
These developments contributed to significant year over year audience growth for The Ariel Helwani Show. YouTube watch hours and views for the show experienced triple digital year over year percentage growth, while audio listens saw double digit year over year percentage growth.
