UFC chief Dana White has hit out at MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, accusing the reporter of holding a “pity party” and pulling a “weasel move.”
Helwani broke the news that Brock Lesnar was set to return to the sport at UFC 200 on the day of UFC 199, where a promotional video was aired revealing what was supposed to be a surprise inclusion. During the event the journalist was asked to leave and told he was banned from covering the promotion for life, sparking criticism of the company.
Speaking about the incident on the UFC Unfiltered podcast with Matt Serra and Jim Norton, White was scathing of the way Helwani conducted himself afterwards. He stated that the journalist “threw a big pity party for himself” and “almost blew up a huge relationship” with the WWE who allowed Lesnar to compete despite being under contract.
White also stated that he was unable to hand Dominick Cruz his title belt on the night of UFC 199 because of Helwani’s “weasel move.”
Helwani, who works for MMA Fighting as well as hosting The MMA Beat and The MMA Hour, opened up about the incident on the latter show and became emotional when discussing his ban:
Although White had previously told TMZ that Helwani’s ban would be upheld for “as long as I’m here,” he has since been reinstated along with his colleagues who were also asked to leave the premises at UFC 199.
“Ariel Helwani knows I've done a lot of s--t for Ariel Helwani,” added White when speaking on the podcast. “The way that he did it had a lot of people pointing fingers at each other.”
“Nobody else does that,” he said of the decision to break the news. “When you're a real journalist, you reach out and say 'Hey, this is the rumour, this is going on and everything else, and I'm going to run with it’.”
The are plenty in sport media spheres that came out in support of Helwani in the immediate aftermath of the event, including Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix:
UFC is an embarrassment. Kicking @ArielHelwani out of an event for doing his job? Pathetic. No more professional MMA reporter out there.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) June 5, 2016
As we can see here courtesy of Chamatkhar Sandhu of MMA Junkie, when Lesnar was asked about the altercation himself on ESPN's SportsCenter, he had no idea what had gone on:
Here's the video of Brock Lesnar being asked about @arielhelwani pic.twitter.com/AdP9TFjgyt
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) June 6, 2016
Looking to the future, White stated that the whole affair will change the manner in which the UFC guards information. “You better f--king believe it brother,” he said when asked about the matter. “You better believe it.”
UFC 200 will see Lesnar back in the Octagon for the first time in five years, as he gets set to face big-hitting Mark Hunt. The main event on the night will see UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier face longstanding rival Jon Jones.
