Media Buckley to Ariel: When fighters come on your show, you try to use us as weapons against the UFC with your platform, setting us up with questions

[StonedLemur]

Why are you always correct sir?

I can't say always sir, but it's usually because I do this thing called thinking before I spout off at the mouth sir

When im wrong its usually because I let my emotion win...then I say dumb shit occasionally lol.

 

[SuspectChin]

Guy is a chameleon. One moment he's acting as a hype man for Francis signing with PFL, going on about how the UFC doesn't matter. The next, he's interviewing MVP regarding signing with UFC over PFL, talking about how the UFC is all that matters.

 

[BearGrounds]

You shouldn't be instigating fights if you're not willing to fight yourself.

Ariel is a coward.

 

[Can’t Handle My Riddum]

Guy is a chameleon. One moment he's acting as a hype man for Francis signing with PFL, going on about how the UFC doesn't matter. The next, he's interviewing MVP regarding signing with UFC over PFL, talking about how the UFC is all that matters.

I mean, that wasn’t his argument at all.

Helwani has always acknowledged that the UFC is the greatest MMA stage of all time.

He also said that anyone thinking Francis wouldn’t benefit career wise from a move to boxing was wrong and that there was more out there than just MMA for a guy like Francis.

They’re two totally different ideas and not mutually exclusive.

 

[Ogata]

Imagine if we still had Bloodstaine Lane and not Ariel. Even if he's playing a character, it would be insufferable.

It is JAW INSPECTION SEASON

Aka the Bozo Basher, aka take you down like a ski mask rapist looking for a female jogger jogging at midnight.

 

[Goldentrophy]

I mean he accepted in invitation on to his show to complain about not being invited enough on his show and pull a UFC shill job.

He’s just a salty dude mostly I think, has a chip on his shoulder that he can’t get off.

He even backtracked once Ariel was giving pushback to just say(verbatim) "You know how us fighters are, we are very sensitive"

 

[VinceArch]

Aka the Bozo Basher, aka take you down like a ski mask rapist looking for a female jogger jogging at midnight.

aka while we're on twitter, he's banging our sisters in the shitter and all that other stupid shit he thought up lol. I never could sit through a whole video but I did watch more than one so he wins

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

He even backtracked once Ariel was giving pushback to just say(verbatim) "You know how us fighters are, we are very sensitive"

Yeah it felt phony though, like he was doing half-assed damage control because he realized the vibe was so aggressive.

I mean if you are going to go on the show and give the Mermaid shit at least come with receipts and be ready to spit hot fire.

Nothing worse than accusing someone of something, being asked for an example (which you said there are countless of) and respond with "you know what you do" lol.

 

[whocares]

The only time I ever hear about Ariel is when he says some douchey shit and someone whines about it. Same as Steven A Smith and all the other cockjockeys. Boring af to me but obviously there's a big market for it

 

[Islam Imamate]

Ariel asks tough questions. He may be a weasel, but at least he will press the issue and not toss softballs to everyone like Iole or the other clowns Dana loves. He's got his faults, but there's a reason every big interview is done through him when it comes to MMA. It's fair to have a love/hate relationship with Helwani, but he's pretty damn good at his job and is easily the best MMA journalist around. He also stands up for MMA in other settings and genuinely cares about the sport.

You can see it in those Rampage interviews if you watch more than clips. Quinton will give him shit, but at the end, it's all love between the two. I would rather have a guy asking questions, doing interviews like him more than someone asking innocuous questions no one really cares about. In this interviews he directly addresses Buckley who basically refuses to answer him or engage him after the accusation. People just love to hate everyone here.

Buckley is kind of right but that's part of what a journalist does, ask tough questions that the interviewee might not want to answer to get at some truth.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Agreed on all points except that last part.

There's no point in Buckley trying to come up with examples. You know Ariel is the smarter guy and will find his way out of any example Buckley could've presented to him

What Buckley is saying is true. Everyone knows how Helwani is by now. But it doesn't take away the fact he's a great journalist.

Of course Ariel will try to find his way out but bringing examples and making Ariel answer to them is for the audience. Ariel might in the moment come up with some word salad that diffuses the example in the context of the conversation but if we the viewers see its BS the point has been made.

In these kinds of conversations you will almost never get the accused to admit they are wrong, its more like a trial where the point is to get them to look bad in front of the jury which in this case is we the audience.

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Remember when Helwani had that Lucky Patrick guy on his show?

Good times…

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

i don't like Ariel but you're a fuckin idiot if you willing go on his show just to try and shit talk him

 

[wlu.29]

This took me 0.41 seconds to find on Google and it's the 2nd search result.



Weird how this has been a reoccurring thing stated by plenty of people for over a decade!

Weird how he's hated for asking questions

 

[SuspectChin]

I mean, that wasn’t his argument at all.

Helwani has always acknowledged that the UFC is the greatest MMA stage of all time.

He also said that anyone thinking Francis wouldn’t benefit career wise from a move to boxing was wrong and that there was more out there than just MMA for a guy like Francis.

They’re two totally different ideas and not mutually exclusive.

Bro, rewatch his early 2023 interviews with Francis and Jake Paul (when they announced their signings with PFL). He repeatedly said that he wasn't of the belief that a fighter needed to be in the UFC in order to solidify their status as an MMA GOAT (i.e. Fedor), much less, being the best organization to work for.

Nine times out of ten, his mood and bias during interviews is contingent on the organization the interviewee operates for.

 

[CasualBot]

Big Jon covers this perfectly, for once.

Starts with MVP replying to Ariel,
about fighters behavior vs Dana's comments.



Buckley is another little bitch scared of being out-witted by his own psyche.
Ariel is not using anyone as weapons.
Such 12 year old simp-think.

Blaming Ariel for the relationship with your employer, being interviewed, and responding like an emotional fighter instead of a logical man. The fact Buckley couldn't give Ariel an example proves (once again) the simp-think, or group-think, to bypass personal experience and good conflict.
Not all confrontation is bad conflict.
Ignorance is blaming others.

Sad these grown men blame Ariel for social media, popularity, interviews, promotions, and fans interest into the personal "conflicts" of celebrity fighters.

 

[blaseblase]

This may seem novel to some people in the UFC echo chamber but the media in other sports don't bootlick the promoter.

 

[blaseblase]

Bro, rewatch his early 2023 interviews with Francis and Jake Paul (when they announced their signings with PFL). He repeatedly said that he wasn't of the belief that a fighter needed to be in the UFC in order to solidify their status as an MMA GOAT (i.e. Fedor), much less, being the best organization to work for.

What's your issue with this? For many fighters it's not the best org to work for.

 

[Minnja]

I enjoy Ariel Helwani’s show and content, I think he’s by far the best overall interviewer in MMA and has done overall very great things for the sport.

But, he does try to stir the pot and also get fighters to answer questions when they sometimes are showing obvious signs of not wanting to talk about it. Those characteristics are part of why he’s so good at his job but it can get a bit annoying when this happens in some interviews. I don’t think he has any actual malicious intent or anything like that, but for someone who has built great relationships though interviews, you’d have to think that he has the social awareness to identify when fighters are uncomfortable

 

[SuspectChin]

What's your issue with this? For many fighters it's not the best org to work for.

There is no issue. Just calling out Ariel's double standard.