If you know anything about combat sports analyst Ariel Helwani, you likely know about his longtime feud with UFC president Dana White.
In 2016, Helwani was removed from UFC 199 and banned from the promoter’s events after breaking the news that superstar Brock Lesnar was returning to the promotion and for what UFC leadership called unfairly negative coverage. Helwani was unbanned two days later, but the relationship between him and White, which had previously been very close, never recovered.
The saga has loomed over Helwani’s career as he jumped from ESPN to Spotify and now to Yahoo, where he was asked this week to comment on it once again. White joined Logan Paul’s podcast recently and when Helwani’s name camp up, White appeared to open the door to rekindling his connection with Helwani.
Discussing White’s comments on his podcast this week, Helwani poured cold water on the possibility of getting back in good graces with the UFC chieftain.
“I am not holding out hope,” Helwani said. “I believe, right now, that it will never get fixed.”
Helwani also clarified that he didn’t believe White’s remarks on the Impaulsive podcast were genuine.
“I don’t believe that he was being 100 percent sincere. I believe he was being sarcastic,” Helwani added. “The one thing that was telling to me or at least jumped out at me is that usually when I’m brought up, he calls me all the names under the sun. Scumbag, piece of crap this, all these things. He’ll take his opportunity to take a shot at me. This time, he just said what you just heard him say. Is that because I’m so irrelevant to him? Maybe. Or is that because he misses me? Maybe. I don’t think it’s the latter.”
However, that didn’t stop Helwani from expressing that he would do what it took to repair his relationship with White if the opportunity arose. Both for personal reasons and because he knows where his bread is buttered.
“If someone told me today, you can bury the hatchet, I would do it,” Helwani explained.
“And I would only do it, not because I want anything, not because I want scoops or exclusives, I’m not even in that game anymore. I don’t even do that. Not because I want interviews or access or anything like that, it’s because, I’m not just saying it today, life is too short. And let’s be honest, Dana White is more important in my world than I am in his world. What I mean by that is, Dana White is the most important person in the world of MMA and, maybe soon, in boxing. So we have to cover him.”
Obviously, a strained relationship with White and the UFC has not stopped Helwani from maintaining his perch as one of the premier MMA commentators working. But rarely does a journalist of any kind want to have an actively combative relationship with a subject.
Helwani, however, concluded his response by reminding White and anyone else listening that his new operation at Yahoo is more successful than ever:
“We’re doing just fine, in case you’re wondering. We’re doing better than ever, in case you’re wondering, in all facets of the game. Whether it’s the work, the compensation, anything you want to talk about, we’re doing way better than we were at ESPN, I can assure you of that.”
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.