It is not a secret by now that top MMA journalist Ariel Helwani is done letting people talk smack about him without saying something back. He most recently had an outburst that saw him directing fire at Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub.
Helwani has had issues with the UFC for a while, but the most significant turning point came when he broke the news of Brock Lesnar’s UFC 200 appearance before the UFC did. Since then, he has dealt with Dana White, Joe Rogan, Brendan Schaub, and others belittling him and essentially slandering his name.
It seems that he has had enough, because during the latest episode of the MMA Hour, “Heelwani” as he now calls himself, decided to fire back. He completely went after both Rogan and Schaub for their comments about him.
Joe Rogan Is A Liar
Ariel Helwani was talking to bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling when the topic of the UFC holding grudges came up. Aljo, half-jokingly, made the remark that maybe the UFC’s grudge against Ariel is warranted, which did not sit well with the journalist.
When asked what he was referring to, Aljo said that he was making reference to comments made by Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub. This sent Ariel on a verbal rampage, as he tore into the UFC commentator and retired heavyweight.
“What Joe Rogan has spewed is one thousand percent false. What Brendan Schaub has then parroted is one thousand percent false. Rogan’s source is Dana White, Brendan’s source is Joe Rogan,” Helwani said.
“If someone tells me something off the record… if I go out and report it, I should be done. There’s no way I should practice that kind of journalism and still be here 13 years later… That never happened, the story that Rogan told. That never happened, the story that Brendan talked about a couple of weeks ago. It’s one thousand percent false, and in fact it’s damaging to my reputation because that’s the kind of stuff that a hack journalist does. I’m not a hack journalist.”
Helwani went on to say that he got the Lesnar news from a source, and was never told not to report it, no matter what Dana White and Joe Rogan have said. He then called into question what other things Joe has said on his podcast, which may be less than true.
“That whole BS story that Rogan spewed, and has somehow been regurgitated and recycled is a lie. It almost makes me wonder what other things Rogan is lying about on his show, but that’s a different story for a different day,” Ariel said.
From there, the journalist reiterated that there was no good reason for him to have been banned from UFC 199, and that Dana made things up to justify it. Sterling then tried to come to Joe’s defense by saying that he was just repeating things he heard, but Ariel is not satisfied with that answer.
“Guess what, that’s a stupid f—king reason to say a story when you’re talking about someone’s career. ‘This is what I heard, this guy went out irresponsibly and is dealing with the repercussions.’ No, no, no. Find out the truth, and then come out and talk about it,” Helwani said, angrily.
https://youtu.be/6oKJKzIihkk
Brendan Schaub Apologized To Ariel Helwani
The things with Joe Rogan and his comments about Ariel Helwani happened a few years ago. However Brendan Schaub recently brought these things up on his own podcast, saying that he heard Ariel was a hard person to work with.
This is something that Ariel passionately denied, while revealing that since then, Brendan has reached out over text and apologized. However this was not enough for Ariel, who demanded that Brendan make the apology public, on the same podcast he used to hurl insults.
“He just reached out to me this morning, Brendan, and apologized to me for regurgitating false lies… about me and I said ‘Thanks for reaching out Brendan. I look forward to you doing it on air, the same way you said lies about me. You should probably go on the air and rectify it the same way.’ So I wait for that day, until then God bless,” Helwani said.
No More Mr. Nice Helwani
After the interview with Aljamain Stelring concluded, Ariel got back on the topic of Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub, while waiting for his next guest. It was here that he put the nail in the coffin on both men, and their apparent lies about him.
“Brendan went on his show and talked about me being a nightmare to work with, me being a bad teammate, he’s heard from a million different people that I’m the worst to work with. Talk to my colleagues, talk to my friends if that’s the truth, talk to the production team if that’s the truth,” Helwani said.
“Talk about me being a bad journalist all you want, bad show all you want. But don’t talk about what’s inside (my heart), don’t question the kind of person that I am, try to take me down because you may be jealous or you may have some other bizarre reason for talking about me as a person when you don’t even know me…
“Leave my name out of your mouth, especially when you want to lie about me,” Helwani continued. “You want to talk about my show being great, you want to talk about me being the ten time journalist of the year, all you want. But don’t lie about me.
“Don’t talk about how you gave me gigs, that I should be thanking you. Because I will come after you, I will respond… High road Helwani ain’t no more. You’re looking at the Heelwani era. This is independent Helwani. I ain’t taking no shots no more, so everybody better know if they come at the king, you best not miss.”
What do you think of this reaction from Ariel Helwani? Will there be a response from Joe Rogan or Brendan Schaub?
