Ariel just got done with a segment on sportscenter where he was basically feted as a journalism hero. Ariel was humble as always, saying he only wants to cover the sport, and the ESPN host congratulated him for his reinstatement. [Reply]
Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:
Did he hook you up with some party favors?
Sounds awesome either way.
He was celebrating his anniversary with his fiance who are soon you be married after UFC 200. We actually live on the same street just two blocks from each other. Holly Holm lives two streets just north of us.
Originally Posted by B2chiefsfan:
He was celebrating his anniversary with his fiance who are soon you be married after UFC 200. We actually live on the same street just two blocks from each other. Holly Holm lives two streets just north of us.
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
I wonder if he's ever hooked up with Holly Holm...... [Reply]
Originally Posted by B2chiefsfan:
Nope... Holly's been married for awhile... John has three children with fiance who happens to be his high school sweetheart...
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Speaking personally, I was seriously considering cancelling my UFC Fightpass subscription over this. A LOT of people have been tweeting out screenshots of them cancelling their fightpass subscription and vowing to boycott UFC 200, so if this ended up being a lot of people, maybe the UFC decided "ok screw it, wow, we didn't expect this, but now this isn't worth it. Let Ariel do whatever stupid annoying thing he wants"
I'm in lockstep with you, al. UFC wasn't going to see any $ from me until they resolved this mess. It is a shame that this story had to overshadow the events from a historic night in the UFC.
It is an even bigger shame that the Fertittias(sp?) and Dana White run the UFC with an archaic style reminiscent of Vegas' deep mob roots. The UFC had to realize with the biggest event in their history coming up next month that the longer this story stayed in the news cycle the worse it would be for them.
Just by giving the MMAFighting staff back their credentials doesn't change the larger problem that the UFC faces. It just quiets the debate for now. The UFC wants the media to be a glorified extension of their PR department instead of allowing the press to do their job. The UFC statement on this matter just further reflects their heavy-handed approach to their relationship with the media.
Some details of the alleged incident of which Ariel spoke of during yesterday's MMA Hour regarding one of these situations turning physical have come to light. One of Dana's bodyguard's choked Ariel after he asked Chuck Liddell if he would ever fight Jon Jones.
Hopefully, the MMA Fighting staff can go back to doing their jobs at the Fight Night in Ottawa next week without any ramifications from the UFC but I have my doubts. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Sfeihc:
I'm in lockstep with you, al. UFC wasn't going to see any $ from me until they resolved this mess. It is a shame that this story had to overshadow the events from a historic night in the UFC.
It is an even bigger shame that the Fertittias(sp?) and Dana White run the UFC with a heavy-handed style reminiscent of Vegas' deep mob roots. The UFC had to realize with the biggest event in their history coming up next month that the longer this story stayed in the new cycle the worse it would be for them.
Just by giving the MMAFighting staff back their credentials doesn't change the larger problem that the UFC faces. It just quiets the debate for now. The UFC wants the media to be a glorified extension of their PR department instead of allowing the press to do their job. The UFC statement on this matter just further reflects their heavy-handed approach to their relationship with the media.
I found out some details of the alleged incident which Ariel spoke of during yesterday's MMA Hour involving one of these situations getting physical. One of Dana's bodyguard's choked Ariel after he asked Chuck Liddell if he would ever fight Jon Jones.
I sincerely hope that the MMA Fighting staff can go back to doing their jobs at the Fight Night in Ottawa next week without any ramifications from the UFC but I have my doubts.
It was an all-time stupid decision by UFC to ban him. He's 100x more famous now then he was on Saturday morning. Newspapers in NY, DC, LA, Boston, etc. that wouldn't have even posted the results of UFC 199 in the sports section now have stories about Helwani being banned by Dana White and the UFC. Ariel Helwani is pretty much untouchable at this point. [Reply]
Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:
It was an all-time stupid decision by UFC to ban him. He's 100x more famous now then he was on Saturday morning. Newspapers in NY, DC, LA, Boston, etc. that wouldn't have even posted the results of UFC 199 in the sports section now have stories about Helwani being banned by Dana White and the UFC. Ariel Helwani is pretty much untouchable at this point.
The silliest thing about this whole issue is that Ariel Helwani is incredibly valuable to the UFC, financially, and they didn't even seem to realize it.
Casual fans don't generally decide to watch the fights on a whim like they might for football or baseball, they usually have to be talked into it by a friend who is a dedicated hardcore fan, and Ariel's audience for his weekly show is nothing but those guys. Every week he keeps them fired up about the next card, and then his audience goes out and preaches UFC to their friends who otherwise wouldn't watch, etc.
And, as Kevin Iole incredulously wrote, "the UFC wants to ban that guy?!?" [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
The silliest thing about this whole issue is that Ariel Helwani is incredibly valuable to the UFC, financially, and they didn't even seem to realize it.
Casual fans don't generally decide to watch the fights on a whim like they might for football or baseball, they usually have to be talked into it by a friend who is a dedicated hardcore fan, and Ariel's audience for his weekly show is nothing but those guys. Every week he keeps them fired up about the next card, and then his audience goes out and preaches UFC to their friends who otherwise wouldn't watch, etc.
And, as Kevin Iole incredulously wrote, "the UFC wants to ban that guy?!?"
Great point, al. The UFC wants the media to be more of a PR firm than actual journalists and then they run off the one guy who has been hyping their product unlike anyone else in the business. It was a short-sighted, foolish move by the UFC to permaban Ariel and his colleagues. By the UFC revoking the MMAFighting staff's media credentials and subsequently reinstating them it begs the question how much was this decision influenced by mainstream media backlash, Fightpass & UFC 200 blowback in buys and a potential sale of the UFC? [Reply]
