Wednesday’s MMA Hour interview between host Ariel Helwani and Chael Sonnen devolved into a shouting match after the pair got into a heated debate while discussing Francis Ngannou’s boxing match with Tyson Fury.
Looking to get Chael Sonnen’s take on Francis Ngannou’s split decision loss to ‘The Gypsy King’ in Saudi Arabia, the subject of Ngannou’s purse for the fight quickly came up and proved to be a subject of contention between the former ESPN co-hosts.
Sonned disputed Helwani’s report that ‘The Predator’ would walk away with $10-20 million for his scrap with Tyson Fury, claiming that the event was a failure as far as pay-per-view buys. The conversation grew increasingly hostile with the two men frequently talking over one another. Things finally reached a boiling point when ‘The American Gangster’ threatened physical violence against Helwani.
“Ariel, you keep cutting me off. I don’t understand why you do that,” Sonnen said. “I would strangle you if I was there. You come and talk to me all mouthy like this?”
Chael Sonnen says he would strangle Ariel Helwani
pic.twitter.com/q3JZGJm93l
— Brandon (@Edwrds21) November 1, 2023
Chael Sonnen Abruptly Leaves the interview
After a few more minutes of going back and forth, Chael Sonnen abruptly exited the interview leaving Helwani to wonder whether or not the tiff was legit.
Later in the episode, Helwani revealed that he had received a text message from Sonnen, but declined to read it on air, leaving everyone to wonder where their relationship stands.
This is far from the first time that Sonnen and Helwani have gone toe-to-toe over mixed martial arts. It was a regular occurrence during their time as co-hosts on ESPN’s Ariel and The Bad Guy.
You can watch the full MMA Hour interview between Sonnen and Helwani below: