Dana White Ariel Helwani Rivalry: Why Does the UFC CEO Dislike Veteran MMA Journalist?

Dana White and Ariel Helwani were not always rivals. The pair were good friends at one point and shared a healthy work relationship. However, things turned very sour between the pair and have not been the same since. It all started off back in 2016 after UFC 199 when Helwani gave fans a spoiler. He revealed that Brock Lesnar would be returning to the organization for UFC 200. This spoilt the elaborate video that the UFC had planned to announce his return.

Although what Ariel Helwani did was wrong, Dana White’s reaction was a bit severe. The UFC president banned Helwani and had his credentials removed.

Did Dana White Jeopardize Ariel Helwani’s ESPN contract?

Since this episode, the pair have not shared a very good relationship, it just kept getting worse. Helwani even made claims that White tried to jeopardize his deal with ESPN.

“Did Dana White run you out of ESPN?”

Ariel Helwani responds:
1/2 pic.twitter.com/uGwVMUFs3u

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) July 12, 2021

The UFC president then foul-mouthed Helwani alongside Paddy Pimblett in a podcast with the Scouser. Pimblett accused Helwani of being a ‘biased’ content creator.

What did Ariel Helwani say about Dana White raising his hand on his wife?

Helwani then had the opportunity to get back at White when a video of him raising his hand on his wife surfaced on the internet.

The MMA journalist blasted him publicly for it on his YouTube channel and fans had a field day. More recently, Helwani criticized White for not giving Belal Muhammad a title shot.

Ariel Helwani calls out Dana White for not giving Belal Muhammad a title shot

Following UFC 298, during the press conference, Dana White gave his flowers to Leon Edwards for being an absolute ‘stud’ and not saying no to a single fight the UFC offered him.

However, Ariel Helwani felt something was wrong, and during the latest episode of The MMA Hour, he questioned why Belal Muhammad was not offered a shot:

“I expect the next title fight for Leon to still probably be Belal. But man what an indictment on how they feel about the guy. Not one phone call and he is on the front row on Saturday going 300 give me a call.”

Ariel Helwani believes Dana White, and the UFC did Belal Muhammad dirty by not offering him a UFC 300 main event title fight.

This new call-out just further fuels the rivalry between the pair. White is yet to respond to the accusations made by Helwani.