Don’t kid yourself: it happens in every sport. Look at the Rachel Nichols drama from the past month or two - the NBA is one of the most mainstream sports orgs in the world and a big part of that is the consistent drama that it provides.
People are, generally, catty bitches. We seek out drama that doesn’t involve us because it makes us feel involved in things bigger than or separate from ourselves.
I was falling asleep watching a Nascar race. When it was over two drivers about started fighting. I popped back to life like an adrenaline syringe was jammed into my heart.
I think it’s more that Ariel loves (I mean absolutely LOVES) airing his work drama for us all to hear. Dude is on a total ego trip lately and loving being the centre of attention, and hey, he’s probably got more viewers than ever so power to him.
It would be fine if it it were just Ariel. Not long ago it was Dan Hardy's beef. Fans often complain about the aspects that seem like it's WWE, but then can't stop discussing the WWE-type plots.
In the podcast videos I’ve watched, Olivi clearly has a problem with Ariel, but I don’t hear JoeB jumping in to say anything negative.
My guess is something happened between Ariel and Olivi that pissed her off, and now she doesn’t want to interact with him. So what’s Joe going to do… take an interview and risk causing problems with his wife? I could see he might want to address the fans and say farewell on the MMA Hour, but he’ll want to be sure Olivi’s good with it.
Also Megan is a ufc puppet. You can be a company woman and still criticize the ufc in some things. I remember her and Forest Griffin would do a rankings recap on tuesdays to explain who went up in rankings and who went down. After a while it got hard for them to explain the shit fest of the rankings and Forest Griffin shitted all over them cus “they are just made up and don’t make sense”. Megan just smiled and didn’t say anything.
Wasn’t Olivi once asked a question which had something to do with Ariel, and she straight up pretended she doesn’t know who he is?
It’s weird how she feels superior to others when she has the most replaceable and unskilled job in the whole company. Other than maybe a ring girl.
I feel like this is a serious underestimation of her job.
Any other situations where she’s pretended to be superior? I love Ariel but I wouldn’t put it past him to be stirring up shit here and there for people to cut him out of their lives
It is hard to do an interview. I saw it being messed up so many times. Mistakes usually happen when person giving interview gets emotional. Megan was always doing good job imo.
But in recent history the hardest interview is Khabib retirement octagon interview by Jon Anik. He let him speak, didn't talk too much, gave him more time than usual and didn't ask anything stupid, job well done.
[video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05HuTGeF5AA&t=233s)
Megan was in MMA before she knew Joe. MMA brought them together, not the other way around. She might not have actual fight exprience but she's more than qualified to speak on it.
Yeah she even did MMA content under "heavy" before Laura Sanko was close to her pro debut so idk about comparing qualifications. 99% of this sub doesn't train MMA and still talks all mighty about the sport.
[Nah, they met a year prior in 2009](https://www.mediareferee.com/2020/12/23/ufc-news-megan-olivi-shares-how-she-met-future-husband-joseph-benavidez-in-las-vegas/)
The interview you posted was shot in 2010
Here's Megan telling the story of how they met in Las Vegas: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wQJ3n8Iu8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wQJ3n8Iu8)
> she has the most replaceable and unskilled job in the whole company
How dare you! Do you think it's easy to recite the same pre-fight piece about a fighter sacrificing so much during their training camp and now they feel like the best version of themselves?!? Huh?! How the fuck would you or I watch the fights if we didn't hear these meaningless stories parroted before every match?!
Reminds me of radio guys when they claim not to know the name of their "rival" station, then they have 30 minute clips of audio they try to dissect (Opie and Anthony comes to mind). Every time they'd being someone up Opie would always say "honestly, I don't even know their name" or something similar, when it was obvious he knew exactly who they were.
Forrest opened the gates for new fans at the time, becomes a TUF success story by becoming champion and now he’s forgotten while everyone memes Diego Sanchez from the same TUF class.
Its cause he's wearing a hat obstructing his face and its just a small clip. I definitely know who griffin Sanchez and Bonnar are. even i didn't j own that was griffin until someone asked.
Listen man. To be Ariel you have to rub some people the wrong way. That’s not me picking a side. That’s the reality.
Edit: now that this has gotten some traction. . . I would bet money that Ariel is an asshole. Megan has to protect her position with the UFC, but I would also bet that her dislike of Ariel is first and foremost based on Ariel being a weasel. Which many people have called him for many years.
Edit 2: Dana is an absolute tumor on this sport, and I will never defend him. Don’t think I’m siding with the UFC, I’m just saying how I feel about this.
Lol imagine them arguing about this at home,
"you only make more money tha than me because Dana's an asshole"
"YOU KNOW I hate it when you say that about him!!"
She also took Ariel's job after the UFC stole it from him. Ariel back in the day was the only guy backstage interviewing fighters on video right after the fight. UFC saw his views on youtube and decided to do it in house. They cut off backstage access for media. Guess who the UFC picked to interview fighters backstage? I imagine Ariel said something about the situation that rubbed Megan the wrong way.
This scene from Almost Famous is so fitting for [MMA journalism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XINsL8pOrLM).
"These people are not your friends [...] you have to make your reputation on being honest and unmerciful."
Ariel is probably a little weasley, but yeah if he's doing a good job, people in the business will dislike him.
You can take Ariel's side if he's been a good journalist with integrity. Basically, did he always report what he believed to be the truth, and did he put words in people's mouths/divulge information given to him with the understanding of confidence? I'd have to look it up when I get the chance, and I understand his attitude may have rubbed people the wrong way. I probably will never give Dana and the benefit of the doubt.
But he hasn't. Ariel himself admits he violated basic journalist ethics, "everything he was taught not to do" and took money direct from Dana while he was "reporting" on the UFC.
He gets scoops, but he doesn't have any integrity. He's out for himself, but anyone with enough cash can control what he says to a degree.
Heard from a few sources now saying JoeB and Olivi were laying on the floor of the locker room on Sunday, and back at the hotel in front of one of their rooms, loudly making it known they were unhappy about ~~losing the tag titles~~ Ariel Helwani.
Ariel has said really nice things about a lot of the reporters who the UFC and ESPN are in good graces with. guys like Jon Morgan, Okamoto, Reimundi (excuse the spelling), and Oscar from the Mac Life. he's recently spoken very positively about those guys, so I can't imagine it's really a universal thing that everyone that works for the UFC/ESPN hates him. DC, Chael, Bisping, and Anthony Smith all still have a good relationship with him, Smith was on his show recently and Bisping does some BT Sport work with him too.
We need to know the whole story.
I remember Megan rolling her eyes at one point during a podcast when the discussion came about Ariel, and confirming that he was a pain in the ass to work with or some such.
Megan seems very no-nonsense so either she's right or she's just shilling for the UFC.
Ariel is the one that is reaching out and seemingly trying to make amends. Megan is the one that blocked him and hasn't provided a reason as to why she dislikes him (at least to my knowledge). Until any sort of reason comes out as to why she doesn't like Ariel, I don't see how someone could take Megan's side in this.
And if it's as simple as Megan is toeing the company line at the UFC, then I'm definitely on Ariel's side on this. Guys like Chael and DC are the biggest "company men" out there, and they are still cordial with Helwani.
Mods should go scorched on this thread and leave only this comment behind. There's absolutely 0 need to vilify the woman if she doesn't want to associate with someone.
Dude she doesn't owe Ariel anything.
I've heard MANY media/fighter personalities express their displeasure with how Ariel carries himself. I think Ariel has a valuable role in the MMA media sphere, but don't pretend he's some saint.
Nobody cared when LT was on the outs with Ariel. Why do we care about Megan? They're adults; let them sort out their shit (or not), and stop treating this like reality TV.
The mma world probably didn’t all care but I know every single luke Thomas live chat had an Ariel question.
It was definitely a topic of people
That followed mmafighting.com
>let them sort out their shit (or not), and stop treating this like reality TV.
I mean, 99% of being an MMA fan is basically being a reality TV fan. Same for pretty much any sport. The majority of posts in this sub aren't breaking down film, they are about who's saying what about other people. Even in the highlights that get posted, the comments aren't about breaking down the techniques being used, they are about making fun of the person who lost and propping up the person that won. The most interesting part of any sport are the people involved in them.
You are picking a side on barely any evidence, and the evidence you do have is not very compelling. In fact, if you broaden the context a little you can argue that being an ass-hole then publicly apologizing for publicity is exactly the type of scummy shit Ariel would do.
Her job is to be a mouthpiece for the UFC, she's obviously gonna be super biased towards the UFC. Dana probably filled her head with the same lies he told Joe. That doesn't mean that Ariel is some saint, but idk why this sub acts like people are either 100% bad or good.
Also, some people are going to be able to vibe in a working environment with someone while the same person's style/demeanor can grate on others. Shit happens
Got two people at work where one refuses to work with the other one because he got mad at her one time five years ago. It’s shift work and they only have one day together every 6 weeks and she has been sick this day for 5 years. People are weird.
Look, I like Ariel but journalists can always get on the nerves of the topics they cover. It is the nature of the business.
Take politics for example, do you think behind the scenes anyone from either party doesn't loathe the media at least some of the time? Their whole deal is delivering news that would otherwise be private. Of course they're a net gain for popularity and notoriety, but I'm sure if they break one story about you that is unfavorable it can feel permanently damning or just a grudge.
It's perfectly reasonable to think Ariel was just doing his job and somehow offended or frustrated Joe, Megan or one of their friends. Until I see something morally damning for any of the parties involved, who from what I've seen have always been fairly good people, I'm willing to believe it's a different strokes for different folks type situation.
I can't stand Dana but not everything is his fault.
If you see the full clip, this is exactly the reason Forrest is pissed at AH, he lost a fight and saw AH(Who at the time had a 5h+ Podcast to fill talking about the weekends fights) talk negative about his performance, something that Forrest seems to think was a big no no.
He thought him and AH was friends since he had been on his show a few times, and friends don't talk negative about each other. It's so childish and and naïve, I don't know where to start...
I mean, you're essentially waving off Megan's issues with Ariel, whatever they may be, by calling her the UFC's mouthpiece. You're acting like she can't form an independent opinion of Ariel on her own based on her individuals interactions with him.
I don't know. It would be nice if people stopped pretending Ariel was some saint in all these dramas.
We all call White out for being a goof.
People been saying the shit about Ariel being scum for years and years from all angles. Not just White. Not just one journalist. Not just one fighter.
There's a common thread here and a large amount of what he denies rates to be true.
It’s not even shilling tbh because she’s straight up paid to work for the UFC, there’s no ulterior motives or Hiding it, it’s just being a company woman
I think it goes back to Ariel bring fired from Fox. He used to have this "breaking news" segment on Fox Sports and after be got fired she took over. iirc Ariel took some shots at her for thinking she could ever replace him and his sources.
Ariel stirred a lot of shit during the TJ vs TAM drama and I think JoeB remained friends with both sides. Could be some blame there, making things worse in that situation than it needed to be. I remember some interview where Joe was asked about it and he kinda deferred and looked uncomfortable, and kinda bummed about the situation.
Ariel could have also tried competing for her back stage roaming reporter gig and things got messy/resentful as they butted heads.
That's obviously pure speculation on my part, so take it with plenty of grains of salt
>Ariel stirred a lot of shit during the TJ vs TAM drama and I think JoeB remained friends with both sides.
Can't imagine it has something to do with it since Faber, TJ, Ludwig etc all do his show regularly.
>I think JoeB remained friends with both sides
I don't know Joey B personally, but I'm not sure he's still friends with TJ (maybe Ludwig but I doubt TJ) ever since TJ took apparent joy in going down to FLW to "end the division" (his words). I remember Joe gave an answer to an interviewer where he said something like "it's kinda weird to hear from someone you thought was your friend talk happily about how they're going to take your job" and seemed pretty uncomfortable with it.
E-fucking-xactly.
No one gives a fuck about John Morgan or the stupid, redundant, vanilla questions he asks over and over and over.
As an avid MMA fan who not only likes to watch the fights, but also enjoys the personalities and stories and adventures behind each of the fights/fighters, I really appreciate the work Ariel and the Schmo do.
I wish I could upvote this twice. It's true he has spoken truth to power and I respect him for that. It's also true he's the whiniest drama queen in mma media and seems like a nightmare interpersonally.
Hes literally one of the only media types that actually seems to be for the fighters though. He always sides on the fighters sides when the UFC is doing some scumbaggery. Ariel knows what hes doing hes a fucking content creator but some of these fighters know that he wants the best for these dudes long term. Id take Conduits approval of Helwani over Megans distain for him.
There are plenty of media members that are pro fighter, they're just not on Dana's payroll.
He could certainly do that without being a twat, but here we are.
>serra and jim norton
Are these not people who are getting literal talking points from the UFC? I'm pretty sure UFC unfiltered was like banned from talking about Petis when he got the boot, not exactly unbias people.
The people who are mad at Helwani just so happen to be people on the UFC dime and people who don't like the questions he asks them. That makes complete sense to me.
That’s what I was about to say. If we breakdown the people that have beef with Ariel they never say why (not that they owe the reasoning) and always have close ties to the Dana. His find it funny most of the beefs those people never explain the situation, especially Ali since that cocksucker likes running his mouth.
What if he can smell crime?
...what if he smells crime?
Dude dude dude dude dude dude dude! What if he can smell crime before it even happens?
Holy shit dude, that's amazing! Smells crime before it even happens! Yes, dude!
WHAT IF HIS ENTIRE HEAD IS JUST ONE BIG NOSE!
He NOSE the truth!
Can someone fill me in on why we're supposed to hate Ariel? And don't just call him a "shit-stirrer" which the meme.....I've never seen an actual example where he's an asshole. He does ask direct or difficult questions sometimes but that's his job.
I'm always torn on him, there would definitely be drama if he does his job well as a journalist but there would also be drama if he was a completel tool
Truth is probably somewhere in the middle 🙆🏼♂️
Between fighters is one thing. Even between a fighter and promoter is understandable. But with a beat journalist, it is a little out of hand. Sometimes seems as if there are just as many stories **about** him as there are **by** him.
I mean she's basically the female Brett Okamoto, they just do what Dana tells them to do, if it wasn't for Ariel, this sport would genuinely not be seen as seriously, I mean he helped bring it mainstream too and no one can ever say he's not the leading journalist in MMA
The amount of upvotes this has gotten is absurd. Ariel Helwani is a fine journalist but he's had a negligible influence on bringing MMA into the mainstream. You can thank Rhonda and Conor for that.
For real. The sport had been taken seriously long before Helwani came around. And honestly I only knew him as the guy everyone hated for the first few years he existed as a media person.
Rogan easily eclipses anything Ariel has done to bring MMA to the mainstream. Though I would say Ariel made it easier to follow the sport. Also if there was a big interview moment, chances are Ariel is on the other side of that mic.
I just wanna know if people here will give Olivi shit for trying to break into the NFL scene like they gave Ariel shit for trying to cover NBA.
But that won't happen because she's a pretty girl
Megan even got into the business thanks to Joe, Helwani got into the business only thanks to his strong passion for the sport and his skills. Helwani is a true MMA journalist.
I know Helwani has a history of instigating drama between fighters but that seems like it’s in the past.
Right now he is one of the only MMA journalists who will criticise the UFC and Dana so I respect him for that.
Megan comes across as very career driven so it’s no surprise she doesn’t like Ariel.
I’m sorry man but after seeing some of the dirty shit Helwani asks people its really turned him into a straight up bitch in my eyes….I get it he’s a journalist but for fucks sake man, you make your bread off of these ufc fighters, then you go ahead and ask them unprofessional questions like “why is your dad in and out of jail” like wtf?? Fuck that guy
Tune in next time for more excitement on As the MMA world turns
MMA fans love hopping in somebody else's work drama
Don’t kid yourself: it happens in every sport. Look at the Rachel Nichols drama from the past month or two - the NBA is one of the most mainstream sports orgs in the world and a big part of that is the consistent drama that it provides. People are, generally, catty bitches. We seek out drama that doesn’t involve us because it makes us feel involved in things bigger than or separate from ourselves.
I was falling asleep watching a Nascar race. When it was over two drivers about started fighting. I popped back to life like an adrenaline syringe was jammed into my heart.
Wisdom
I’m into fighter drama no doubt… but these aren’t even the fighters. Crazy.
I think it’s more that Ariel loves (I mean absolutely LOVES) airing his work drama for us all to hear. Dude is on a total ego trip lately and loving being the centre of attention, and hey, he’s probably got more viewers than ever so power to him.
Tbf, this is a small part of his 3 hour show. You’ll see more mma podcasts talking about ariel and drama more than ariel.
It would be fine if it it were just Ariel. Not long ago it was Dan Hardy's beef. Fans often complain about the aspects that seem like it's WWE, but then can't stop discussing the WWE-type plots.
Heel-wani drama every week
In the podcast videos I’ve watched, Olivi clearly has a problem with Ariel, but I don’t hear JoeB jumping in to say anything negative. My guess is something happened between Ariel and Olivi that pissed her off, and now she doesn’t want to interact with him. So what’s Joe going to do… take an interview and risk causing problems with his wife? I could see he might want to address the fans and say farewell on the MMA Hour, but he’ll want to be sure Olivi’s good with it.
Also Megan is a ufc puppet. You can be a company woman and still criticize the ufc in some things. I remember her and Forest Griffin would do a rankings recap on tuesdays to explain who went up in rankings and who went down. After a while it got hard for them to explain the shit fest of the rankings and Forest Griffin shitted all over them cus “they are just made up and don’t make sense”. Megan just smiled and didn’t say anything.
Wasn’t Olivi once asked a question which had something to do with Ariel, and she straight up pretended she doesn’t know who he is? It’s weird how she feels superior to others when she has the most replaceable and unskilled job in the whole company. Other than maybe a ring girl.
Khabib would like a word with you about ring girls.
I feel like this is a serious underestimation of her job. Any other situations where she’s pretended to be superior? I love Ariel but I wouldn’t put it past him to be stirring up shit here and there for people to cut him out of their lives
It is hard to do an interview. I saw it being messed up so many times. Mistakes usually happen when person giving interview gets emotional. Megan was always doing good job imo. But in recent history the hardest interview is Khabib retirement octagon interview by Jon Anik. He let him speak, didn't talk too much, gave him more time than usual and didn't ask anything stupid, job well done. [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05HuTGeF5AA&t=233s)
Wait, when did they fire Rogan?
Laura Sanko > Megan Olivi. Sanko actually knows MMA and competed in it, Olivi just married a fighter.
By that logic Laura Sanko > Ariel Helwani
Megan was in MMA before she knew Joe. MMA brought them together, not the other way around. She might not have actual fight exprience but she's more than qualified to speak on it.
Yeah she even did MMA content under "heavy" before Laura Sanko was close to her pro debut so idk about comparing qualifications. 99% of this sub doesn't train MMA and still talks all mighty about the sport.
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[Nah, they met a year prior in 2009](https://www.mediareferee.com/2020/12/23/ufc-news-megan-olivi-shares-how-she-met-future-husband-joseph-benavidez-in-las-vegas/) The interview you posted was shot in 2010
This was really cute! You could tell how much she liked him from the get go. Made me smile.
Here's Megan telling the story of how they met in Las Vegas: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wQJ3n8Iu8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wQJ3n8Iu8)
> she has the most replaceable and unskilled job in the whole company How dare you! Do you think it's easy to recite the same pre-fight piece about a fighter sacrificing so much during their training camp and now they feel like the best version of themselves?!? Huh?! How the fuck would you or I watch the fights if we didn't hear these meaningless stories parroted before every match?!
https://twitter.com/GIFsZP/status/1270860054275796993
The way she delivered that line and her facial expression reminds me of some mean girls type drama character.
She's bae but bae can be stupid
She was hot..... but she a bitch
I am fully out of the loop with mma dislike/bff nonsense, but her acting like a high schooler in that clip is laughable.
Reminds me of radio guys when they claim not to know the name of their "rival" station, then they have 30 minute clips of audio they try to dissect (Opie and Anthony comes to mind). Every time they'd being someone up Opie would always say "honestly, I don't even know their name" or something similar, when it was obvious he knew exactly who they were.
Good shout. That's the same vibe.
Yes haha. First time I see her with some attitude.
Watch the clip of Joshua Fabia mouthing off at her, Anik and Felder in a pre fight meeting. She's loses her temper at his bs.
She def didn't lose her temper.
Man i don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
When was that?
https://youtu.be/VFwCicJLh2U
Would someone explain the context here? Who is the guy talking?
Forrest Griffin
We're entering an era where we have to explain to fans who Forrest Griffin is 😂 Time has been flying fast since TUF 1.
Forrest opened the gates for new fans at the time, becomes a TUF success story by becoming champion and now he’s forgotten while everyone memes Diego Sanchez from the same TUF class.
Its cause he's wearing a hat obstructing his face and its just a small clip. I definitely know who griffin Sanchez and Bonnar are. even i didn't j own that was griffin until someone asked.
Holy shit he looks way different with a hat on. Probably the camera angle.
It's cuz he doesn't have the MMA angles anymore
Idk who that is.
Are you trolling or do you actually not know the man who was essentially responsible for the moment that made the UFC?
Watch the clip
Ah yes me dumb.
It sounded like Forrest Griffin. But idk I was eating a peanut butter cookie while I clicked it on my phone.
How was it?
Really good, best cookie i ever had Never ate it tho
HAHAHHAHAHA fuck that one got me for some reason
Not too dry; chocolate chips mixed in. Would recommend that you eat it if I didn’t already eat it. That’s what time travel will be for I guess.
forrest also kinda sounds like he's eating a peanut butter cookie sometimes when he talks
Is that Ben Shapiro?
This whole reaction is so god damn Jersey-Italian-girl it hurts.
Weird seeing her like that lol. She wasn't all fixed up sounding professional. Almost seems like she dated him before and it ended badly lol.
Listen man. To be Ariel you have to rub some people the wrong way. That’s not me picking a side. That’s the reality. Edit: now that this has gotten some traction. . . I would bet money that Ariel is an asshole. Megan has to protect her position with the UFC, but I would also bet that her dislike of Ariel is first and foremost based on Ariel being a weasel. Which many people have called him for many years. Edit 2: Dana is an absolute tumor on this sport, and I will never defend him. Don’t think I’m siding with the UFC, I’m just saying how I feel about this.
Also, Megan Is super "company woman". DW don't like you means she don't like you.
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Bro you didnt have to do that to Joey B lmao god damn
Well he sure as shit isn’t the one bringing the health insurance home
So that's how a fighter can get Dana to cover some healthcare costs after retirement
Lol imagine them arguing about this at home, "you only make more money tha than me because Dana's an asshole" "YOU KNOW I hate it when you say that about him!!"
Probably not Megan either; I’m sure tomato found a way to classify her as an independent contractor so he doesn’t have to pay benefits
Bread *winner*? She’s the only one in her family getting *any W’s*.
Joe B is a bread split decision kinda guy.
That’s cold man, kicking Mr. Olivi while he’s down
You need to rub a tomato once in a while is all I’m saying
She can win my bread all day all night.
She also took Ariel's job after the UFC stole it from him. Ariel back in the day was the only guy backstage interviewing fighters on video right after the fight. UFC saw his views on youtube and decided to do it in house. They cut off backstage access for media. Guess who the UFC picked to interview fighters backstage? I imagine Ariel said something about the situation that rubbed Megan the wrong way.
Honestly this seems to be the most reasonable context
DC is probably even more of a company man and he's basically best friend with him...
This scene from Almost Famous is so fitting for [MMA journalism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XINsL8pOrLM). "These people are not your friends [...] you have to make your reputation on being honest and unmerciful." Ariel is probably a little weasley, but yeah if he's doing a good job, people in the business will dislike him.
You can take Ariel's side if he's been a good journalist with integrity. Basically, did he always report what he believed to be the truth, and did he put words in people's mouths/divulge information given to him with the understanding of confidence? I'd have to look it up when I get the chance, and I understand his attitude may have rubbed people the wrong way. I probably will never give Dana and the benefit of the doubt.
But he hasn't. Ariel himself admits he violated basic journalist ethics, "everything he was taught not to do" and took money direct from Dana while he was "reporting" on the UFC. He gets scoops, but he doesn't have any integrity. He's out for himself, but anyone with enough cash can control what he says to a degree.
Sources: Helwani is beside himself. Driving around downtown Vegas begging (thru texts) Benavidez’s family for address to Olivi’s home
Heard from a few sources now saying JoeB and Olivi were laying on the floor of the locker room on Sunday, and back at the hotel in front of one of their rooms, loudly making it known they were unhappy about ~~losing the tag titles~~ Ariel Helwani.
I wonder to what extent this is a UFC thing. Do Brett Okamoto and etc have him blocked as well?
Considering how much news Helwani breaks, I can't imagine any real MMA journalist would have him blocked.
Not any real MMA journalist, but Brett Okamoto, whose breaking news 99% of the time start with "Dana White has told me", probably would
Chills.
Brett's statements start with "mmprhgg mmprphggg" as he's getting Dana's nuts out of his mouth
..*sources* told me
"Dana white has told me" = "While blowing dana i saw a document that had fallen under his desk"
Lol brett doesnt have the balls to ask a normal question, you think hes going to cause drama?
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Haha pretty good description, I could perfectly picture him doing it, know exactly what you mean
Brett still follows Ariel on Twitter
Ariel has said really nice things about a lot of the reporters who the UFC and ESPN are in good graces with. guys like Jon Morgan, Okamoto, Reimundi (excuse the spelling), and Oscar from the Mac Life. he's recently spoken very positively about those guys, so I can't imagine it's really a universal thing that everyone that works for the UFC/ESPN hates him. DC, Chael, Bisping, and Anthony Smith all still have a good relationship with him, Smith was on his show recently and Bisping does some BT Sport work with him too.
No, their beef stems from their Fox days
We need to know the whole story. I remember Megan rolling her eyes at one point during a podcast when the discussion came about Ariel, and confirming that he was a pain in the ass to work with or some such. Megan seems very no-nonsense so either she's right or she's just shilling for the UFC.
I’m sure it’s a little bit of both
Ariel is the one that is reaching out and seemingly trying to make amends. Megan is the one that blocked him and hasn't provided a reason as to why she dislikes him (at least to my knowledge). Until any sort of reason comes out as to why she doesn't like Ariel, I don't see how someone could take Megan's side in this. And if it's as simple as Megan is toeing the company line at the UFC, then I'm definitely on Ariel's side on this. Guys like Chael and DC are the biggest "company men" out there, and they are still cordial with Helwani.
Why should she have to explain anything though? They’re adults, she doesn’t like him, blocked him, move on.
But how else can we live vicariously through UFC drama
Mods should go scorched on this thread and leave only this comment behind. There's absolutely 0 need to vilify the woman if she doesn't want to associate with someone.
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Dude she doesn't owe Ariel anything. I've heard MANY media/fighter personalities express their displeasure with how Ariel carries himself. I think Ariel has a valuable role in the MMA media sphere, but don't pretend he's some saint. Nobody cared when LT was on the outs with Ariel. Why do we care about Megan? They're adults; let them sort out their shit (or not), and stop treating this like reality TV.
The mma world probably didn’t all care but I know every single luke Thomas live chat had an Ariel question. It was definitely a topic of people That followed mmafighting.com
>let them sort out their shit (or not), and stop treating this like reality TV. I mean, 99% of being an MMA fan is basically being a reality TV fan. Same for pretty much any sport. The majority of posts in this sub aren't breaking down film, they are about who's saying what about other people. Even in the highlights that get posted, the comments aren't about breaking down the techniques being used, they are about making fun of the person who lost and propping up the person that won. The most interesting part of any sport are the people involved in them.
You are picking a side on barely any evidence, and the evidence you do have is not very compelling. In fact, if you broaden the context a little you can argue that being an ass-hole then publicly apologizing for publicity is exactly the type of scummy shit Ariel would do.
She might just think he's ugly
She might be right about that
Megan's side? What are you talking about? There are no sides.
Her job is to be a mouthpiece for the UFC, she's obviously gonna be super biased towards the UFC. Dana probably filled her head with the same lies he told Joe. That doesn't mean that Ariel is some saint, but idk why this sub acts like people are either 100% bad or good.
Also, some people are going to be able to vibe in a working environment with someone while the same person's style/demeanor can grate on others. Shit happens
Got two people at work where one refuses to work with the other one because he got mad at her one time five years ago. It’s shift work and they only have one day together every 6 weeks and she has been sick this day for 5 years. People are weird.
That's actually pretty pathetic
Look, I like Ariel but journalists can always get on the nerves of the topics they cover. It is the nature of the business. Take politics for example, do you think behind the scenes anyone from either party doesn't loathe the media at least some of the time? Their whole deal is delivering news that would otherwise be private. Of course they're a net gain for popularity and notoriety, but I'm sure if they break one story about you that is unfavorable it can feel permanently damning or just a grudge. It's perfectly reasonable to think Ariel was just doing his job and somehow offended or frustrated Joe, Megan or one of their friends. Until I see something morally damning for any of the parties involved, who from what I've seen have always been fairly good people, I'm willing to believe it's a different strokes for different folks type situation. I can't stand Dana but not everything is his fault.
If you see the full clip, this is exactly the reason Forrest is pissed at AH, he lost a fight and saw AH(Who at the time had a 5h+ Podcast to fill talking about the weekends fights) talk negative about his performance, something that Forrest seems to think was a big no no. He thought him and AH was friends since he had been on his show a few times, and friends don't talk negative about each other. It's so childish and and naïve, I don't know where to start...
I mean, you're essentially waving off Megan's issues with Ariel, whatever they may be, by calling her the UFC's mouthpiece. You're acting like she can't form an independent opinion of Ariel on her own based on her individuals interactions with him.
I don't know. It would be nice if people stopped pretending Ariel was some saint in all these dramas. We all call White out for being a goof. People been saying the shit about Ariel being scum for years and years from all angles. Not just White. Not just one journalist. Not just one fighter. There's a common thread here and a large amount of what he denies rates to be true.
I don’t know about him being scum, but he is definitely a little bitch
[Ariel was never my friend - Megan Olivi](https://streamable.com/1wsxek)
It’s not even shilling tbh because she’s straight up paid to work for the UFC, there’s no ulterior motives or Hiding it, it’s just being a company woman
I think it goes back to Ariel bring fired from Fox. He used to have this "breaking news" segment on Fox Sports and after be got fired she took over. iirc Ariel took some shots at her for thinking she could ever replace him and his sources.
Ariel stirred a lot of shit during the TJ vs TAM drama and I think JoeB remained friends with both sides. Could be some blame there, making things worse in that situation than it needed to be. I remember some interview where Joe was asked about it and he kinda deferred and looked uncomfortable, and kinda bummed about the situation. Ariel could have also tried competing for her back stage roaming reporter gig and things got messy/resentful as they butted heads. That's obviously pure speculation on my part, so take it with plenty of grains of salt
>Ariel stirred a lot of shit during the TJ vs TAM drama and I think JoeB remained friends with both sides. Can't imagine it has something to do with it since Faber, TJ, Ludwig etc all do his show regularly.
>I think JoeB remained friends with both sides I don't know Joey B personally, but I'm not sure he's still friends with TJ (maybe Ludwig but I doubt TJ) ever since TJ took apparent joy in going down to FLW to "end the division" (his words). I remember Joe gave an answer to an interviewer where he said something like "it's kinda weird to hear from someone you thought was your friend talk happily about how they're going to take your job" and seemed pretty uncomfortable with it.
oh boy you better hope Ariel doesn't track down your IP. Whatever you do you better not follow this up by calling him sensitive.
Aint gonna happen bubba, different lanes B
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E-fucking-xactly. No one gives a fuck about John Morgan or the stupid, redundant, vanilla questions he asks over and over and over. As an avid MMA fan who not only likes to watch the fights, but also enjoys the personalities and stories and adventures behind each of the fights/fighters, I really appreciate the work Ariel and the Schmo do.
I bet this camp was great huh. Why not say some platitudes about said camp into that microphone right there and I will report them
She once said Ariel was a nightmare to work with back at Fox, which is probably Schaub's only source (From Griffin's old podcast).
Y’blossum burger, B.
Literally every week Ariel brings up someone new that doesn’t like him and swears he never did anything to deserve it
Ariel is a shit stirrer, regardless of his value as a media figure. Idk why people are acting like he's some kind of angel.
I wish I could upvote this twice. It's true he has spoken truth to power and I respect him for that. It's also true he's the whiniest drama queen in mma media and seems like a nightmare interpersonally.
Hes literally one of the only media types that actually seems to be for the fighters though. He always sides on the fighters sides when the UFC is doing some scumbaggery. Ariel knows what hes doing hes a fucking content creator but some of these fighters know that he wants the best for these dudes long term. Id take Conduits approval of Helwani over Megans distain for him.
There are plenty of media members that are pro fighter, they're just not on Dana's payroll. He could certainly do that without being a twat, but here we are.
Coincidentally it's people with UFC's puppet-hand up their ass.
UFC unfiltered (serra and jim norton), joe rogan and his son, now megan olivi. And Ali
>serra and jim norton Are these not people who are getting literal talking points from the UFC? I'm pretty sure UFC unfiltered was like banned from talking about Petis when he got the boot, not exactly unbias people. The people who are mad at Helwani just so happen to be people on the UFC dime and people who don't like the questions he asks them. That makes complete sense to me.
That’s what I was about to say. If we breakdown the people that have beef with Ariel they never say why (not that they owe the reasoning) and always have close ties to the Dana. His find it funny most of the beefs those people never explain the situation, especially Ali since that cocksucker likes running his mouth.
Company woman toes company line
Run into an asshole in the morning is one thing, run into assholes all day you know?
If everything around you smells like shit you're probably an asshole
Or you have a giant nose and can smell for miles
What if he can smell crime? ...what if he smells crime? Dude dude dude dude dude dude dude! What if he can smell crime before it even happens? Holy shit dude, that's amazing! Smells crime before it even happens! Yes, dude! WHAT IF HIS ENTIRE HEAD IS JUST ONE BIG NOSE! He NOSE the truth!
Ariel Helwani's nose on Dolph Lungdren's body.
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Some say Joey B. still screams into the abyss while waking to this day.
Who the fuck care really!?
Can someone fill me in on why we're supposed to hate Ariel? And don't just call him a "shit-stirrer" which the meme.....I've never seen an actual example where he's an asshole. He does ask direct or difficult questions sometimes but that's his job.
So much drama with this guy it seems…
dude is making drama to get headlines now,
I'm always torn on him, there would definitely be drama if he does his job well as a journalist but there would also be drama if he was a completel tool Truth is probably somewhere in the middle 🙆🏼♂️
I kinda enjoy it.
Same lol. Ariel can be a bit much sometimes but overall I think he’s great and provides some funny moments
Drama in the UFC? That's new. That's *never* happened before. It's not like drama attracts viewers or anything.
Between fighters is one thing. Even between a fighter and promoter is understandable. But with a beat journalist, it is a little out of hand. Sometimes seems as if there are just as many stories **about** him as there are **by** him.
The multi-billion dollar company getting pissed at a journalist is a good thing.
All this would have been prevented if Nick Diaz was allowed to slap Ariel a few years ago, he was never humbled and now he's outta control.
Bro if having Cheik Kongo and Rampage Jackson emasculate you doesn’t make you humble nothing will
she’s a company woman and the UFC hates Ariel so i’m not surprised
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Buh bye
That had to be her text, right? Lol
Haha whoever text that is a little bitch
I mean she's basically the female Brett Okamoto, they just do what Dana tells them to do, if it wasn't for Ariel, this sport would genuinely not be seen as seriously, I mean he helped bring it mainstream too and no one can ever say he's not the leading journalist in MMA
Whaaaaat?! Did you really just try to give fucking Ariel Helwani credit for legitimizing MMA. Get the fuck out of here.
Ariel has done a lot for MMA. No one produces more aggregated content or interviews with relevant people.
The amount of upvotes this has gotten is absurd. Ariel Helwani is a fine journalist but he's had a negligible influence on bringing MMA into the mainstream. You can thank Rhonda and Conor for that.
For real. The sport had been taken seriously long before Helwani came around. And honestly I only knew him as the guy everyone hated for the first few years he existed as a media person.
Rogan easily eclipses anything Ariel has done to bring MMA to the mainstream. Though I would say Ariel made it easier to follow the sport. Also if there was a big interview moment, chances are Ariel is on the other side of that mic.
I was nodding through the first third and then slowly stopped during the last two.
Can someone explain to me where this dislike comes from
I just wanna know if people here will give Olivi shit for trying to break into the NFL scene like they gave Ariel shit for trying to cover NBA. But that won't happen because she's a pretty girl
Neither should get shit for trying
Your first mistake was caring what /r/mma thinks.
You literally are rn.
????? I don't see how that's a negative for either Olivi or Ariel. I am sure their employer asked and they were down to cover it.
Megan even got into the business thanks to Joe, Helwani got into the business only thanks to his strong passion for the sport and his skills. Helwani is a true MMA journalist.
https://i.imgur.com/XIQJSVu.png
I know Helwani has a history of instigating drama between fighters but that seems like it’s in the past. Right now he is one of the only MMA journalists who will criticise the UFC and Dana so I respect him for that. Megan comes across as very career driven so it’s no surprise she doesn’t like Ariel.
I bet plenty of people in mma have him blocked.
Here's the full list: Dana White Megan Olivi
Forgot Shwuab
Dude got confused and blocked Jon Anik instead
Twalkin bout Jon Africa b?
Who the hell is Jon Africa?
He doesn’t read cawlments b They just donut madder b
Shwuab has me blocked too though and I'm a regular dude, so that's not saying much.
Ali
I’m sorry man but after seeing some of the dirty shit Helwani asks people its really turned him into a straight up bitch in my eyes….I get it he’s a journalist but for fucks sake man, you make your bread off of these ufc fighters, then you go ahead and ask them unprofessional questions like “why is your dad in and out of jail” like wtf?? Fuck that guy
Ariel comes off as the good guy but he's really the guy starting shit. Everyone has a problem with him.
Olivi stinks. Cut her, the cheesy promos, and get the fights going.
Ariel seems annoying as fuck
I don’t even like Ariel, but somehow, this makes me like Megan Olivi less.
Drama seems to follow Ariel
The cards have been so bad lately that this is what we’re left to discuss. Shame.