Ariel Helwani Skeptical of Turki Alalshikh’s Attempt to Reconcile His Beef with UFC Boss Dana White

Ariel Helwani and Dana White do not like each other at all. The pair have been beefing for years but that wasn’t always the case. Yes, there was once a time when Dana didn’t accuse Helwani of leaking stuff and Helwani wasn’t as persistent on the fighter pay issue. Regardless, Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia wants them to settle their feud.

For the uninitiated, Alalshikh is the reason behind the boxing mega-fights in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Ariel Helwani and Dana White are not on talking terms, in fact, they actively criticize every step they make or statement the other makes.

In fact, when Helwani heard of Alalshikh’s offer, he wasn’t too keen on it and claimed he wasn’t going to hold his breath waiting for a truce.

In a recent episode of The MMA Hour hosted by Helwani, a fan asked him what he thought of Turki Alalshikh’s offer. He said,

“All I’ll say is, nothing has happened since. And I’m not holding my breath…I don’t think it’s a real thing with all due respect to the sentiment which I appreciate very much…I’m not very hopeful.”

Ariel Helwani claims he knows how Dana White operates and how he deals with conflict and that seems like a good enough reason for him to believe the UFC President wasn’t going to come around. To be honest, Helwani himself doesn’t seem like he wants to mend that fence either. Fair play to him!

Although he was grateful for the offer from Turki Alalshikh, he believes their relationship is now beyond repair, especially from White’s side. Even when the Saudi Arabian Minister made the offer to Helwani during his podcast, he was very skeptical of it happening.

‘Brokering peace with White tougher than making the Fury vs. Usyk fight’

Ariel Helwani is the only one who has spoken about potentially squashing the beef with Dana White. The UFC president has not reacted to it, so the podcast host’s doubts are valid.

Even when Turki Alalshikh made the offer for the peace treaty between the pair on his show, Helwani did not think it would be possible.

“I think it’ll be harder to make that partnership (with Dana White) than Fury Usyk or Fury Joshua. But if anyone can do it, we’ve learnt over the past couple year that it might very well be you.”

Now, Ariel Helwani seems open to it but isn’t too hopeful. Regardless, it makes for some very interesting moments. Helwani is a journalist, who’s been asking some tough questions. So perhaps, it is better if he’s not friends with the guy running the biggest promotion in the sport he covers.

We don’t want a conflict of interest.