Ariel Helwani Joins ESPN, Leaves MMA Fighting company. Will also have new ESPN+ show with Chael

Happy for Ariel.

ESPN had the best MMA talk show with MMA Live with Jon Annik & Rashad and Giblert Melendez.
They actually thoroughly discussed fights and stories unlike UFC Tonight does these days.

The Ariel/Chael show sounds good.
Especially with post shows for big events.
Chael is the goat and his youtube breakdowns are great.

I hope the MMA Beat stays.
I guess Luke Thomas will probably host it. But it's probably good. That way i don't have to hear his stupid long winded analysis. He can stick to asking the questions.

Man i miss when we had MMA Live, MMA Uncensored, Inside MMA & UFC Tonight (before it was shit & segmented to hell) all together and mma was still exciting with top stars and grudges.
 
Ariel and Chae co hosting a show already sounds more interesting than anything the ufc ever did on Fox. I’d much rather watch those two talk mma than Dominic Cruz, Michael Bisping and Tyron Woodley.
 
I wonder if DFW will show up on that show.

Chael fights In another org and Ariel is on the most hated list.

Should be good for a few laughs.
 
I'm glad that ESPN is forcing him away form his other duties. He never realized what a conflict of interest it was working for Fox while trying to cover the sport. He acted like he was still a journalist while working for the people he covers. It doesn't work that way.

Thankfully he can just be a TV personality now and hopefully stay away from the gossip.
..........
Garbage. He was fired from Fox over 2 years ago. And there is not one instance of him being unethical that you can point to. You're parrotting UFC nonsense from their paid shills.

And Helwani was probably fired from Fox by the UFC for the Rory Macdonald interview about him looking to leave the UFC. How is that being unethical or a shill for the UFC?

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports...porting-on-free-agency-unleashed-a-firestorm/
http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/ariel-helwani-opens-up-about-his-departure-from-fox.html
 
Man you guys are hard on Ariel.............he has done a pretty good job navigating through the shit storm the MMA world puts up. I don't wish anyone the job of these MMA journalist. You have to beat around the bush on everything cause everybody seems to have the most fragile egos in the world and that is both on the corporate side an the fighters side. One false step and they just flip out and you can't do your job anymore.

I think Chael and Ariel will be pretty interesting to watch.
Aww poor bastards. It's the equivalent to mining coal.
 
I look forward to the day it's canceled or they're replaced.

Looking forward to when Ariel gets replaced, so we get All American Brian Stann, Bas Rutten and the Bad Guy-show instead.
 
The 2 most annoying fucks in the community. Actually I don't know anything about Chaels journalism because his schtick annoyed me so much I can't bear to watch him. Might be good I dunno.
 
Meh. Helwani is annoying and Chael will get the Star Wars treatment from Disney and have to tone it down to the point of boredom because his schtick will be gone

Oh no, forcing Chael to "tone it down" spells bad news.
 
.
“Ariel and The Bad Guy” will team Helwani with professional fighter and ESPN MMA analyst, Chael Sonnen, for a fast-paced 30-minute weekly breakdown of the top stories, developments and upcoming fights. New episodes will be available on ESPN+ each Wednesday, beginning June 20, and there will be special episodes before and after major mixed martial arts events.

The thing is, I think people like the MMAHour because it's a deep dive. 30 mins sounds like its gonna be an inferior product.

Good for Ariel though. Congrats.
 
No more MMA Hour or MMA Beat?

<DCrying>
 
Man I’m happy for Ariel, hope his new MMA show streams on youtube so all we EU fans can watch it live.
 
In B4 100 triggered Shertards lose their shit over a TV show they won't watch

Oh. Wait.
 
This is fookin epic news, LOVE IT!!
 
Meh. Helwani is annoying and Chael will get the Star Wars treatment from Disney and have to tone it down to the point of boredom because his schtick will be gone

I think they may try to do their usual ESPN thing, with one guy being the voice of reason, and the other being a wise-cracking loose cannon. Basically, Ariel is Max Kellerman and Chael is Stephen A.Smith
 


Looks like the MMA Hour is not going away, just being rebranded.

So maybe its on ESPN+ but still on Youtube internationally.. but region-blocked on USA Youtube. Same studio? Probably not owned by SB nation then.


Edit:
So hopefully live on Youtube.. who knows.
 
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