The Ariel Helwani Show
Episode overview

GOAT Debate, UFC Sacramento & PFL Tampa Previews, Namo Fazil Drama, P4P Rods, More | BITB | 8/20/26

The Ariel Helwani Show · 20 August 2026 · 2h 18m · 4 Egleze moments
GOAT Debate, UFC Sacramento & PFL Tampa Previews, Namo Fazil Drama, P4P Rods, More | BITB | 8/20/26 ▶

What happened in this episode?

The Boys in the Back returns with fight-week discussion across UFC, PFL and boxing, alongside a long voicemail segment and recurring in-jokes. The most consequential portion centres on Contender Series fighter Namo Fazil: hosts read a translated Instagram account attributed to Fazil alleging that “15 Chechnyans” entered his room during a weight cut, culminating in him being slapped and an altercation breaking out. They also recap wider online fallout, including a statement read as coming from UFC star Khamzat Chimaev urging Chechens and Kurds to stay united while warning there will be “consequences” when someone “speaks bad”.

The show then relays additional allegations against Fazil, with Conner Burks describing claims from UFC fighter Robert Valentine about a separate cafe confrontation and footage in which Fazil allegedly grabs a knife. A video message from UFC fighter Islam Dulatov is played in full, with Dulatov offering Kayky Brito a personal $5,000 bonus for his knockout win over Fazil.

Elsewhere, the hosts debate the UFC men’s GOAT conversation following Islam Makhachev’s latest title defence (as they describe it), then preview UFC Sacramento and PFL Tampa. In the PFL segment, they push back on promotion of Cris Cyborg vs Ketlen Vieira as a “retirement fight”, saying Cyborg did not confirm retirement and that PFL’s John Martin characterised it as the last bout on her deal. The episode also touches on Teofimo Lopez vs Rolly Romero and Amanda Serrano’s TikTok-streamed bout, before closing on voicemails and audience questions.

What are the key points?

Which topics are covered?

How is this page sourced?

Programme
The Ariel Helwani Show
Published
20 August 2026
Duration
2h 18m
Original episode
Open the original source ↗

Egleze verifies the speaker, source and timestamp for each linked moment. Unless a moment is explicitly marked independently verified, statements remain attributed claims by the named speaker rather than established facts.

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4 moments from this episode

Source-linked · editorially selected
01
Combat & UFC

Namo Fazil claims 15 men confronted him during weigh-in weight cut

at 5:50 · Attributed speaker claim
He says on the day of the weigh in, about 15 people came into the room where I was staying. I was in the sauna. My coach opened the door. 15 Chechnyans had come into the room.

Boys in the Back host Conner Burks reads out a translated Instagram account attributed to Dana White’s Contender Series fighter Namo Fazil, who alleges a group of around 15 men entered his room while he was cutting weight ahead of his bout. Fazil claims he was slapped twice and that a fight broke out, but no other parties are identified in the segment.

02
Combat & UFC

Conner Burks says Chimaev urged Chechens and Kurds to unite

at 7:27 · Attributed speaker claim
I just want to say that if something happens between two men, they need to sort things out between themselves without letting media make fitna between nations. We are all brothers, Chechens and Kurds. We are Muslims and we should stay united.

Conner Burks says UFC fighter Khamzat Chimaev posted a message amid online fallout involving Namo Fazil. Burks says the message calls for Chechens and Kurds to stay united and includes a warning about consequences for people who speak badly.

03
Crime & Justice

UFC fighter Robert Valentine alleges Fazil grabbed a knife in cafe incident

at 9:37 · Attributed speaker claim
You can see shirtless right here. Faisal coming around, grabs a knife, starts running towards someone, knocks over the bottle, slips on the. Oh no. It's tough.

Burks says UFC fighter Robert Valentine posted a video describing an alleged altercation with Namo Fazil at a cafe in Thailand and claims it escalated into chaos. Burks describes footage in which Fazil is seen shirtless and, he says, appears to grab a knife and run towards someone before slipping.

04
Combat & UFC

Islam Dulatov says he offered Kayky Brito a $5,000 bonus

at 10:44 · Attributed speaker claim
So, um, as we know, the UFC is not giving any bonuses in the contender series, but the family dollar is giving $5,000 bonus to Kape Brito for this performance. Please brother, contact me. Send me your bank account and we're going to send you $5,000 today.

Islam Dulatov says, in a video message aired on the show, that he will personally pay Kayky Brito $5,000 after Brito’s Contender Series knockout win. Dulatov asks Brito to get in touch and share bank details to arrange the payment.