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Ariel Helwani learned to stop listening to critics a long, long time ago.

Ariel Helwani has stood atop the mixed martial arts (MMA) media mountain for a long time, and with that, naturally, comes criticism.

Helwani, 37, has been the sport’s most recognizable and successful journalist for at least a decade. His career has taken him from websites like MMA Fighting to mainstream sports networks like ESPN and FOX Sports. The Montreal-born journalist served as the season finale guest on The Insiders, revealing how he deals with criticism inside and outside the industry. He touched on objectivity and access.

“There are a lot of misconceptions and funny things,“ Helwani said. “I crack up when people say, ‘Ariel is doing this for that because the UFC said so or to protect the UFC.’ Let’s be honest, guys, it hasn’t been the rosiest relationship. Why in the world would I go out of my way? I see your colleagues saying, ‘I’m all about the access’ and things like that. If you knew the issues that I had to go through on a daily basis, the obstacles, way more than anyone because of the broadcast relationship and because I’m there. It’s comical to me.

“I don’t feel like I need to prove anything to anyone,” he continued. “I think a lot of it is rooted in jealousy. I see things written about me all the time, I see things said about me all the time. At this point, I take it as a compliment because people tend to shoot up, they tend to punch up as opposed to punching down. I learned a long time ago to stop getting worked up over those things.”

Helwani admitted alarms went off when UFC announced a long-term deal with ESPN. When Helwani was approached about working with the major sports network, he had only known about UFC’s 10-event deal through ESPN+.

“What just happened? Did I just go back to the FOX era? Which I did not want to be part of. It’s been completely different. I work 100 percent exclusively for ESPN,” Helwani said, alluding to pressures UFC placed on FOX that ultimately led to his departure from the network. “To be honest, when I signed with ESPN I had no idea they were getting into any deal.”

Helwani had nothing but praise for ESPN, noting how the network has stuck by him despite any possible friction between Helwani and UFC.

Timestamps are below for the video above.

0:57 – Steak well done
4:01– Ariel’s Brain
7:00 – Journey to the Top
12:41 – Transition to ESPN 15:33 – ESPN Critics
18:27 – Does ESPN Block Stories?
19:34 – MMAJA Concerns
25:34 – Leaving MMA Fighting
30:19 – Rapid Fire Questions
33:30 – Embarrassing Moments
37:14 – Creativity in MMA
39:59 – Interviewing Dwayne Johnson

Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC

Whether it’s Petr Yan or Jose Aldo that walks out of UFC 251 with the bantamweight title around their waist, Aljamain Sterling feels the title of bantamweight king goes through him.

UFC 250 was all about statements for the bantamweight division. Sean O’Malley showed exactly why many think he’s the future, while Cody Garbrandt made it clear that he’s not even close to being part of the past. But right now, in the moment, Aljamain Sterling looks like the man who could be king. At least, he could be if he could just get that title shot.

On July 12th at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the UFC will host a PPV headlined by three championship fights. In the main event, Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweight belt against Gilbert Burns, while Alexander Volkanovski rematches Max Holloway for the featherweight title in the co-main. But, before either of those bouts take place, Petr Yan and Jose Aldo will meet in the cage to battle for the vacant bantamweight title.

Aldo had been set to take on champion Henry Cejudo for the belt back in May, before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a wave of travel restrictions—making his departure from Brazil impossible. Dominick Cruz took the fight instead, and Cejudo retired shortly after TKOing the ‘Dominator’ in the second round. Yan vs. Aldo was a strange fight for the UFC to jump on in the wake of Cejudo’s sudden departure, with contenders like Sterling and Sandhagen waiting in the wings. However, after quickly choking Sandhagen out on June 6th, the ‘Funkmaster’ seems content to wait in the wings for his shot at UFC gold.

“Petr Yan may fight Jose Aldo and he may win the belt or Jose Aldo may win the belt but people are going to always look and see ‘you’ve got to beat this guy first’ and it gives me comfort knowing that people are behind me and realizing that my skills are dangerous and I’m a real threat to this division,” Sterling told MMA Fighting, after admitting that while he’d like to be competing for the title right now he was taking an optimistic approach to the situation. “In order to be considered the best, you have to take me out.

“I feel like I’ve kind of got that Tony Ferguson effect right now. I’m that guy hanging in the wings right now. I think people are really starting to pay attention and take notice of my skills and capabilities. You put me in there with anybody at 35 or 45, I get on your back, I take you down, it’s going to be a long night and it’s a dangerous situation to be in.”

Sterling even revealed that Sandhagen gave him “a lot of respect,” after their bout, and told him to “go out there and get the belt.” At the moment, in Sterling’s mind, he’s the best bantamweight in the world, “until someone goes out there and proves it otherwise.”

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has decided to vacate his title and take an extended break from mixed martial arts (MMA) after promotion president Dana White failed to cough up the money required for a Francis Ngannou super fight in the 265-pound weight class.

But despite his insistence that UFC screwed him out of millions of dollars, 205-pound contender Dominick Reyes believes this is nothing more than a carefully constructed strategy to avoid a “Devastator” rematch at some point in early summer or late fall, which may explain why “Bones” is now playing light heavyweight matchmaker.

“It was obvious man, that last fight was a dog fight and I took it to him,” Reyes told former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen. “I pushed him to his limits. I pushed him somewhere he’s never been. He’s never been outstruck, he’s never been hurt like that, he’s never had an opponent that wasn’t afraid of him at all. He’s not willing to lose his belt for less than whatever million dollars. He knows that belt is close to being lost, so he’s doing whatever he can to avoid fighting me again.”

Jones and Reyes battled to a five-round decision in the UFC 247 pay-per-view (PPV) main event back in February, one that ended in favor of “Bones.” There was some mild controversy surrounding the judges’ decision and “The Devastator” is convinced that he not only beat Jones, but that he should be given an immediate rematch.

“He’ll go to heavyweight, ‘I’ll take my first loss at heavyweight, are you guys happy now? You saw me get knocked out by Ngannou,’ I think that’s kinda what he’s thinking,” Reyes continued. “Do everything he can to avoid that to keep his legacy, to keep his belt. Possibly go up to heavyweight and maybe beat Francis and now okay now I can make a run at the heavyweight title.”

As of this writing, the promotion has yet to make a decision on the future of the light heavyweight title, but White — who once called Jones an “unfixable party animal” — believes he’ll (eventually) work out his differences with “Bones.”