Pandemic Show Impact

A story about how Ariel Helwani's show provided comfort to listeners during the pandemic lockdowns.

"There's no greater compliment I can get than when someone writes me and says 'I had a horrible day and then I checked out your show and it made me forget about my day.' During the pandemic, when people were so down, they'd tell me how DC and I used to make them laugh.

I just got a message from someone in Australia where it's been horrible with the lockdowns. They said 'I'm so happy your show is 4 hours again because you give me 8 hours a week of stuff to think about outside of the lockdown. I can think about MMA and have access to these fighters.'

There is no greater joy than I get from that. And while I haven't been to a UFC fight since March 2020, partly because of the pandemic and partly because of my job, if you asked me right now to choose between a big-time UFC fight - Conor McGregor's return fight in Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena, sold-out crowd, celebrities, atmosphere - or going to my son's soccer game with 10 other parents at the park nearby, I am choosing that soccer game without a shadow of a doubt in my mind."