WWE legend Ric Flair recently appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and the two icons shared some hilarious moments while also discussing Dana White and Ariel Helwani.
While legends in their own separate industries, the two icons sat down for what was an epic podcast that just so happened to feature one of the funniest misunderstandings that the Joe Rogan Experience has featured in a long time.
The clip making waves in the MMA world is a short one-minute snippet that starts off with Joe Rogan talking about his relationship with his longtime friend and UFC president Dana White. “I can call Dana at one o’clock in the morning,” Rogan began. “We’ll talk for three hours about fights. Just talk.”
Suddenly, the legend himself, Ric Flair, decides to bring up Ariel Helwani, and that’s when things take a turn for the extremely comical. “Ariel has a good job with him (Dana White), right?” Flair asked.
Ric Flair hilariously mistakes Ariel Helwani for UFC employee and former fighter on Joe Rogan’s podcast
“Ariel Helwani?” Rogan asked, doing a good job of not laughing. It was major news many years ago, but Ariel Helwani and Dana White notoriously broke bad after Helwani leaked UFC news that he was essentially supposed to keep secret.
Dana White and the UFC were extremely angry because, according to them, the UFC was going to release the news themselves, and Helwani violated their trust by choosing to break the news. Helwani was then permanently banned from attending UFC events, media days, press conferences, and basically anything UFC-run.
This is pretty much common knowledge in the industry. Helwani himself brings it up all the time and has famously said he did wonder if it was going to ruin his career, but he chose to persevere and has done extremely well for a professional journalist banned from attending UFC events.
“Ariel Helwani is independent now,” Rogan explained. “He does his own thing… He doesn’t get along with Dana… I don’t have a problem with Ariel. I like Ariel. His show is great… He was with FOX for a while. He was with ESPN for a while… I know his show is very successful.”
The conversation continues to flow before things take a hilarious turn. Flair is about to make a factual blunder that doesn’t really mean anything but is pretty funny to look back on. “I just saw him at WrestleMania,” Ric Flair said. “Ariel is pretty tough, too, right?”
“Is he? I don’t know, I don’t think he ever fought. I don’t even know if he trains,” Joe Rogan answered, kind of chuckling.
“Oh, he didn’t? Well, god. He looks like he did,” Flair responded. Joe Rogan had to chime in here and ask Flair if he was “Scared of him (Ariel Helwani),” to which ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair immediately said, “No.”
“Well, what are you trying to say?” Rogan asked as laughter broke out in the room. Ric Flair does a great job of keeping a straight face even though he had facts a little jumbled and confused. “He looks like he did (fight),” Flair said. “I thought he did fight at one time… He’s well built; he’s very well spoken too.”
The clip ends, and while the things Flair said are harmless, it is pretty funny and endearing to see a living legend like Ric Flair appear so human and get some MMA facts wrong. Humans have a knack for putting people on a pedestal, and when a living icon like ‘The Natureboy’ appears on Joe Rogan’s podcast and gets some facts wrong and looks a bit like an MMA casual, it does come across as very funny, but also extremely endearing to see that happen and realize even people’s idols are just regular humans too.
What do you think of Ric Flair’s funny blunder on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and do you think Ric Flair should be “scared of” Ariel Helwani?