Update: Ariel Helwani and MMA Fighting reinstated, Zuffa still salty

Reportedly for breaking the Lesnar news before the UFC could.

I think there will be a tremendous amount of solidarity among other journalists.

This is some bullshit right here.

 

Helwani's colleagues including MMA's preeminent photographer Esther Lin also kicked out.

 

What kind of North Korea fuckery is going on here?

 

Imagine Adrian Wojnarowski getting banned from covering the NBA because he broke trade news.

 

What a sour note to end the night on.

 

http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/ufc...ob.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I have one question about all of this – what the hell is the UFC doing? Are their heads so far up their asses that they don’t realize how terrible this looks?

They’ve been beating the hell out of Helwani (no pun intended) this year, from White calling him out on Twitter over a report that was proven to be correct to him getting forced out of Fox’s UFC coverage so that the UFC could whitewash UFC Tonight and the pre and post-fight shows a bit more. For as unethical as all of that is, I get it – White’s skin is so thin that it has more in common with plastic wrap than actual human skin, and the UFC wants to turn their fighters into media darlings rather than turning a reporter into one.

But I’d love to know what they think will happen after banning Helwani and his colleagues for life. Do they think he’s just going to quit reporting on the UFC and turn all of his focus to smaller promotions like Bellator and World Series of Fighting? That’s not his style at all, and would result in MMA Fighting’s traffic absolutely plummeting. Furthermore, just because Helwani can’t/won’t be credentialed any more doesn’t mean he can’t do his job – if anything, this is just going to motivate him even more to break news ahead of the UFC making official announcements.

The UFC is backing themselves into a corner here. If they want to be taken seriously as a legitimate sport, they need to accept the possibility that maybe, just maybe, reporters that aren’t under their collective thumb will break news about the company. Imagine if Major League Baseball revoked Ken Rosenthal’s credentials, or if the National Football League escorted Adam Schefter out of a game because they weren’t happy with his coverage. They would be roundly, and justifiably, pilloried across the sports world.

This is exactly what’s happening here, and it’s ridiculous. The UFC wants to be taken seriously as a major sport? That’s fine. Good for them. That *should* be their goal. But to ban reporters from covering their live events for *daring* to do their jobs? That simply shows an entitlement mentality and a lack of awareness that’s simply unheard of in the year 2016.

 

As expected every media outlet is going to bat for Ariel. These guys all have something to lose, here. When the UFC banned Sherdog back in the day people were pissed but Sherdog wasn't the massive player that MMAFighting has become. Arguably the top media outlet for MMA.

We'll see how petty the UFC truly is on Monday on the MMA Hour if UFC fighters are banned from being on Ariel's show. If so his career will be in jeopardy.

 

It seems like at least once a month the UFC needs to remind everyone they are unscrupulous mob goons.

 

Jeremy Botter: Dana White is a pathetic, cowardly scumbag

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...4d742c-2b2d-11e6-b5db-e9bc84a2c8e4_story.html

This night should have been about Bisping and his massive victory, which was especially surprising given that he was booked for the fight just two weeks ago, as a replacement for injured Chris Weidman. The 37-year-old Brit (29-7) connected with a counter left hand midway through the first round, flooring Rockhold, then caught him again as the champ climbed to his feet. The knockout came at 3:36 and set the stage for a title reign that promises not to be boring. Or cordial.

The night should have been about Cruz (22-1) reestablishing himself as the dominant force in the 135-pound division, a status he once owned but was forced to relinquish after his body failed him again and again. After sitting idle for the better part of 4½ years healing from ACL surgeries on both knees and a groin tear, the 31-year-old looked as quick and elusive as ever. And while he didn’t get the finish, he knocked down Faber in the second round and showed that his punching power cannot be ignored.

The night should have been about middleweight legend Dan Henderson, at 45 years old and on the brink of defeat, somehow finding the will to stay in the fight long enough to find the chin of Hector Lombard. Again and again, Henderson (32-14) tried to end the fight with his big right hand, known as “the H-bomb.” But Saturday’s most potent weapon was the elbow Henderson used to collapse the favored Lombard at 1:27 of Round 2.

This night should have been about featherweight Max Holloway (16-3), who won his ninth straight fight. It should have been about one undefeated prospect, featherweight Brian Ortega (11-0, 1 NC), pulling off a spectacular KO to salvage a fight he was losing, and another, Tom Breese (10-1), falling for the first time. It should have been about the “Ali! Ali!” chants that arose at the Forum as touching video tributes to The Greatest were being shown between bouts. It should have been about Diaz and McGregor and Lesnar.

But instead the two big title fights and other major stories must share the spotlight moment with minor league smallmindedness. In its unending quest to find a place at center stage of the sports world, the UFC once again couldn’t get out of its own way.

 

I can't see the UFC fighters standing for this. I also don't think this impacts Helwani's reports either. He has great sources and I'm sure they'll only be better now. The fighters, for the most part, love Helwani. Jones has already stated he will answer his phone whenever Helwani reaches out to him because Helwani was always fair.

DFW and the Fertittas really fucked up. Again. We say that a lot. I suspect cooler heads will prevail. The UFC has a lot of yolk on their face right now and has ruined the discussion about the best card of the year.

 

The MMA Hour is live at 10 PT/1 ET.

Should be their highest rated show ever.

Pretty much required listening.

http://www.mmafighting.com/mma-hour

 

- Ariel says it was Lorenzo who wanted him gone from FOX and Lorenzo who banned him on Saturday
- UFC reps told him he should run news past them first before breaking it but Ariel says he's been mislead and lied to by the UFC so many times he doesn't do that, nor does he think that is how journalism should work
- Dana told him to 'go to Bellator' and told him he's 'too negative'
- Dana lobbed a lot of personal insults at him that he won't repeat but he doesn't believe that Dana wanted him gone-- had to toe the line for Zo
- Ariel regrets bringing Casey along with him to the confrontation because he thinks if he'd gone alone that Casey & Esther might not've been banned

- Young/less experienced journalists covering MMA have come to Ariel to tell him they are afraid to report news because of how Zuffa reacts
- UFC told him Brock was so upset that he wanted them to tune Ariel up; Ariel has looked into this and Brock wasn't upset or even aware of Ariel's report so it sounds like bullshit

- They told him Kevin (Iole) would've gone to them first before breaking McGregor/Diaz or Brock news
- Kevin stuck up for Ariel in his article last night

- The people at FOX who eventually hired him told him they were going to be in business with the UFC but they were still interested in doing real journalism
- Dana went to bat for Ariel and helped him get hired (UFC Tonight)
- Told him they wanted him to be 'the insider, the Jay Glazer'

- FOX wanted Ariel to be the pre- and post- fight show guy but the catch was the cheque would've been signed by Zuffa, meaning UFC Tonight was FOX but the pre- and post- fight shows were paid out by Zuffa; all the same producers but the events were Zuffa territory
- Ariel didn't want any cheque from Zuffa due to obvious conflict of interest
- Ariel thought about working for free, tried to get FOX to pay him direct, but couldn't find a way to separate himself from Zuffa but ultimately signed on with it
- Ariel has turned down every offer to do work for UFC.com, Fight Pass, etc.
- Ariel says UFC people are attempting to smear him by saying he's a hypocrite for talking about integrity while taking money from Zuffa

- FOX told him they were taking him off of UFC Tonight in May of 2012 for refusing to take a Zuffa-paid job with FOX Sports.com; he spoke to Dana and Dana kept him on TV regardless
- Dana told him explicitly in 2013 and onward that he had to have thick skin and confidence and didn't need to confirm news with the UFC; Dana didn't say anything when Ariel brought up those conversations this weekend

- Ariel suggests strongly that he was physically intimidated/assaulted while working at FOX

FRB says Ariel was slammed against a wall and choked by Dana's bodyguard

FRB also says the (true) media may boycott UFC 200 in response.

24,000 people watching Ariel's solo show

After Ariel got fired from FOX (for the convo he had with Rory MacDonald about free agency, etc.), Ariel started breaking news because he felt no need to sit on anything. FOX and UFC went on a mole hunt internally, convinced that someone was feeding him information. They didn't believe he could have trusted sources. They went so far as to say "Ariel told us YOU are the mole" to people and terrorized their own offices. They thought he was trying to sabotage UFC Tonight by killing all their announcements.

DFW repeatedly called him and texted him when he was interviewing Nate Diaz last week. Ariel didn't pick up the phone (he was doing the show, obviously). DFW sent him some kind of nasty final text message. I guess the UFC hated the interview with Nate although it is a classic.

 

I will try and recap his two-hour monologue as succinctly as possible...

Lorenzo is the one pulling the strings and is the one constantly aggrieved by Helwani's reporting. This has created a dichotomy within Zuffa and FOX where some of the people can respect Helwani for his skills as a journalist but many hate him because of the toxic environment regarding Zuffa's inability to constantly control the narrative of their product and the sport at large. Josh Gross, Loretta Hunt, Jeff Sherwood-- many have felt the wrath before Helwani. They are all still banned.

Lorenzo fired Ariel from FOX twice. The first time was when Helwani had the nerve to cover a Bellator media day. This still sticks in their craw and as recently as Saturday night they told him to 'go cover Bellator [because] nobody wants him here anymore.' He smoothed it over with Dana afterward. The second time was after he had a conversation with Rory MacDonald on The MMA Hour a few weeks ago when, unbeknownst to him, MacDonald went into detail regarding poor negotiations between himself and the UFC and his desire to test the market to find his true value. There was no going back after this.

Helwani's relationship with FOX and UFC Tonight is a bit convoluted. FOX pays the UFC for content. The UFC takes the money and produces the content (because they have to have full control). Helwani was collecting cheques from FOX for doing Tonight, pre- and post- fight shows. This money came from FOX but was dolled-out by Zuffa which made him uncomfortable. He attempted to get around this but they insisted on keeping the pay format as is. In response he turned down every offer to produce content for foxsports.com and Fight Pass. He saw it as a conflict. Zuffa hated this and told him he wasn't a team player and that they needed him to be 'all-in.'

Oddly, his relationship with DFW wasn't always bad. DFW went to bat for him when the FOX deal was being hammered out and made sure Helwani was the go-to guy once they started putting crews together for shows. DFW has given him advice in the past. Helwani says he once asked White if he needed to clear news with the UFC brass first before reporting on it since he was getting the runaround from them so often. White told him that if he could confirm it on his own to go for it. White did a 180 this weekend when him and his cohorts told Helwani he was being banned for not clearing news with them beforehand.

An ugly aspect of the story was when Helwani strongly hinted that he'd been roughed up at one point during a dispute. FrontRowBrian says that Dana's bodyguard slammed and choked Helwani. Helwani was undeterred and continued to do his job which is commendable.

After he was fired from FOX he stopped worrying about how Zuffa would react to news being broken and just reported things as he confirmed them. He broke several fight and injury stories. Zuffa were furious and accused him of trying to sabotage UFC Tonight by breaking news before they could. Whenever Helwani would sit on something he couldn't confirm or wasn't sure about reporting on, someone else would. If he asked Zuffa, they'd give him misinformation, or give the scoop to someone else. Helwani has long suspected that there are several key players within the company who've had it out for him and relish the opportunity to fuck him up. Internally Zuffa conducted a mole hunt to try and find Helwani's sources. Helwani insists that his sources are legitimate and not leaks.

A few months back Helwani had an interview with Travis Browne on his show. He cleared the topics with Browne beforehand to make sure he was comfortable talking about his domestic accusations and his relationship with Rousey. Browne said he was and he had gotten permission from Rousey as well. He was happy with the interview but Ronda was not. Ronda apparently told Zuffa she'd never deal with Helwani again. Sounds like Zuffa didn't want these topics discussed at all but as always they didn't convey this information ahead of time. Helwani thinks this contributed to a declining relationship with Zuffa.

Zuffa were still pissed at Helwani over the MacDonald interview before he got Nate Diaz on the show. White had infamously referred to Diaz as not being a 'needle mover.' Helwani and Diaz discussed how much things had changed. During the interview White was incensed and attempted to stop it by calling Helwani and texting him while he was on air. When Helwani let it ring, White sent him a text message telling him what he thought about him. IMO the interview with Nate was spectacular.

Fast forward to this weekend. Helwani was still unsure what his status was with White and the brass. During the media day he asked White some questions and got some answers so he assumed everything was fine. On Saturday he reported news that Brock was in talks to return and that Diaz/McGregor was booked. White hauled him backstage before the main event. With a few PR and other people there, White gave him the hairdryer treatment. They told him his career was over. They told him he was "too negative" and told him to cover other promotions. They told him they'd obstruct him as much as possible. They insulted him and belittled him and eventually banned the videographer and photographer from MMA Fighting as well, just for associating with him. To boot they told him Brock Lesnar had asked them to rough him up (something he has since discovered is in no way true). Again, this is all seemingly at the behest of Lorenzo.

Helwani isn't quitting. He wants to repair his relationship with Zuffa. He didn't attempt to villainize White, Fertitta, or others. He is touched by the outpouring of support from fans, media, fighters, and other people. He has no plans to stop The MMA Hour or The MMA Beat shows on the website and hopes to be back covering the promotion ASAP.