Ariel Helwani shares suggestions for next year’s 30-year anniversary UFC event

Ariel Helwani teased some interesting ideas about what direction the UFC might take for its 30-year anniversary event, scheduled for Nov. 2023.

The UFC has just completed its 282nd pay-per-view event Dec. 10 with 11-13 additional events to occur in 2023, inching much closer to another triple-extravaganza with UFC 300 in 2024.

Helwani has been an MMA journalist since 2006 and has been an intricate part of the sport ever since. Although he no longer covers UFC events in person, he does still interview some of the biggest names in the sport and breaks the big MMA news on a regular basis.

With the UFC reaching another milestone in its young history, Helwani threw out some interesting ideas about what the promotion could do to make the event extra special, something that he felt UFC 167 — the promotion’s 20-year anniversary — lacked. His thoughts first appeared during a November episode of his popular weekly show, The MMA Hour.

Quotes provided by MMA News.

“I hope the UFC makes a big deal out of their 30th anniversary,” Helwani said. “You know what would be cool? Bring back, I don’t know, the winners of the first 10 UFCs, or bring back— imagine they bring back every living UFC champion! It probably isn’t that many. How many do you think it is? 40? 50?“

Ariel Helwani also thinks that the UFC’s history should be recognized in a unique way that it hasn’t been before.

“Bring them all back, have a huge ceremony for them,” Helwani continued.” “Do something big. Honor your history. Honor your past. 20th anniversary, 25th anniversary was like (shrugs). Let’s do it up.”

As an NBA fan, Helwani appreciates when basketball legends are honored from the past, like when The Association brought back 50 of the sport’s best players to honor them with accolades during the 1997 season. Helwani echoed that the UFC should consider something with its own unique twist.

Imagine if the UFC brought out the greatest 30 fighters to their PPV in November 2023 to celebrate its 30th anniversary? Would be pretty amazing. https://t.co/qRVqVQ7A4j

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 20, 2022

“Imagine if the UFC brought out the greatest 30 fighters to their PPV in November 2023 to celebrate its 30th anniversary? Would be pretty amazing,” Helwani wrote on Twitter back in February.

Do you think the UFC will do anything out of the ordinary for its 30-year anniversary event?