MMA
The sweet revenge of a world-famous journalist! How did Ariel Helwani enjoy UFC promoter Dana White?
In his podcast, world-renowned journalist Ariel Helwani took revenge on UFC promoter Dan White, with whom he has had a long-standing hostile relationship.
In his podcast, world-renowned journalist Ariel Helwani took revenge on UFC promoter Dan White, with whom he has had a long-standing hostile relationship.
White’s feud with Helwani has a long history
Promoters of combat sports organizations often work with the media for the sake of mutual satisfaction. While the journalists promote the fighters and events of the organizations, the organizations in turn give them behind-the-scenes information from the tournaments.
But that’s certainly not the case for the head of the world’s largest MMA organization, UFC’s Dana White, with perhaps the most well-known combat sports journalist, Ariel Helwani. Their feud has a long history.
The Canadian-American journalist often touched on the topic of UFC fighters’ salaries and interviewed fighters who were unhappy with their pay conditions in the organization. It all came to a head in 2016 when Helwani was escorted out of UFC 199 by security for revealing organization news during the tournament that should have remained behind closed doors.
The promoter banned the journalist from UFC tournaments
On that night, White told the media that Helwani was banned from UFC tournaments for as long as he was the organization’s president. He also taunted journalists with inappropriate remarks about his family and children.
Now comes Helwani with sweet revenge according to White’s latest incident. He was in fact attending New Year’s Eve celebrations in Mexico with his wife Anne.
The drunken couple got into an argument in the late hours that culminated in mutual slaps. The incident was not lost on the media, of course, and the promoter was subjected to a wave of criticism and hate.
Helwani has now rushed in with sweet revenge
Helwani too has rushed in with his bit to the mill, as he has shot a video message for the promoter. “The reason why I am shooting this is very personal to me. Everything has gone somewhere I never expected it to go.
I’ve been thinking a lot the last few days about how far I myself want to go. But this isn’t about me, it’s about the sport and the person who runs and represents it. So I won’t go into certain places, but I will at least say the following,” Helwani said on his podcast The MMA Hour.
“Out of all the lies Dana White has told about me, all the attacks and nonsense, the cruel insults and disgusting things for sharing the news and not kissing his p**s, there’s only one thing that sticks in my mind. It hit me right in the heart at the time,” he recounted his motivation for making the video.
“They don’t have to like each other, but there are simply lines that shouldn’t be crossed. That night, he talked about how my kids would see all this one day and be ashamed of me,” he explained the reason for their broken relationship.
“That’s when I really asked myself what my children would say. Now I know that they see it that I stood up for the truth and didn’t let myself be intimidated. But it stuck with me then and I carry it with me to this day. They just don’t talk about families and children,” he said, not hiding his disgust.
“Today I would like to ask the same question. What will your children say about you today? What will your children say about your legacy? What will they say about how you treat the warriors and the people around you? What will your kids say about the video? What will your kids say about you? Think about it, c**t,” he concluded his sweet revenge.
Source: Ariel Helwani, MMA Sucka