MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani Comments on Being "Banned For Life" By UFC - 6/6/16

"Rich, I'm doing great" - Has a 9mm pointed at his head -

Dana White is a stooge.

Major fucking thumbs up to Rich Eisen for giving Ariel his platform here. Major major thumbs up and my deep respect to you, RIch.

So grossed out by the UFC and their shit, per usual. Ariel Helwani, like him or not, is the absolute best and one of the only true, real reporters in this sport. I will not only not pay for ANYTHING UFC related until this is fixed, but I'll also be teaching every MMA fan I know how to torrent their PPV's and fight nights from now on, as well as reddit/r/MMA.

Good on Rich for allowing Ariel on his show to give his side.

Thanks Rich, for covering this as Ariels colleague. As fans of the sport we desperately need the traditional media to stand up to this bullshit.

Really appreciate the platform you gave Ariel here. He deserves to be treated a lot better by the UFC. Like he said, they want the MMA journalists to be additional promoters of their company, which is crazy. I can't understand how something like that is possible. I love the sport, I love the UFC and I think Dana White is a great head of the organisation. But there are things like handling the media which is done terribly by the UFC. It has to change and you supporting Ariel is definetly helping in some way.

Wtf is going on with UFC?!?! Ariel Promotes THE SHIT out of ufc events! He is a VERY good thing for this sport.

Gained a fan, respect to you Rich Eisen. Ariel isn't just a great journalist but he's also VERY passionate about MMA. These are the type of reporters UFC should want to keep around. This type of shit is so petty, the fact is Dana White and the rest of those idiots are power hungry and want to control everything. Dana tries so hard to be Vince McMahon.

So happy to see mainstream media giving Helwani respect. Thanks for this.

"The land of the free and the home of the brave" Yeah right

thank you Rich for having Ariel on, hopefully this and more exposure like it will have some impact on those Zuffa bastards but i doubt it unfortunately

Stitch and Ariel got fucked over. The UFC is corrupt.

Rich, thank you for this interview.

Thanks for covering this!!!!!

Rich, I am subbed to you now, thanks for covering this important topic.

Good for you Ariel! You have my support!

Who would have thought Dana White is a hypocrite?

Thank you Rich! Your support for Ariel means a lot to us too :)

Thanks for this excellent coverage.

Ariel keep doing ur thing u have my support. Respect to Rich for doing this.

I've been getting burnt out on UFC. I'm sure they'll be fine without me but it just seems like its always something that annoys me. Never thought i would, i've been a fan since Chuck was the man.

Thanks for covering this Rich.

for your act of honor and integrity at 6:30 into the video, I have subscribed. you are a respectable person and that goes a long way.

Rich! Thank you for giving Ariel a platform. He's over qualified for the bullies at ufc

How the hell are you gonna BAN Ariel Helwani? Beyond ridiculous... this dude is a class act.

wow great interview. Makes me rethink ordering UFC fights in the future.

Whenever I hear ufc , Ariel comes to my mind

I'm really thankful that rich is covering this story.

New Rich Eisen fan. I even subscribed. How the UFC has treated Ariel is bullshit.

Great work and support of you guys!

Subscribed! Thanks for the great content.

That was a good interview

The UFC is taking things personally and acting like a spoiled 5 year old brat. I love watching the UFC but seriously... they need to learn to chill

Appreciate you guys giving Ariel time to speak Rich. Awesome interview. F the UFC.

all the respect in the world to Rich for sticking up for ariel when he needed him.

Thanks Rich. All the diehard MMA fans have known about the UFC's bullying tactics over their journalists, fighters, and personnel for years. Josh Gross. Stitch Duran. Burt Watson. The list goes on.

Proud of you Rich! This really bummed me out. Thank you Mr. Eisen for shedding light on this situation and standing up to the bullies.

Best UFC and NFL journalists right here.

Not surprised UFC lifted ban, Ariel Helwani put UFC & MMA on the map, the man deserves respect without him the MMA sports news would be boring #teamhelwani

that's bullshit man he's the best mma reporter out there

Ariel is too smart for this to float by. He's got support too.

What is ironic is the fact that among many other things Ariel Helwani was practically a fantastic promoter for MMA in general and in particular for the UFC through his considerable body of quality work from his modest beginnings back in the day with his own KZhead channel all the way to now. Frankly, the UFC made an emotional decision, which is ALWAYS a bad thing. Now they had to eat their words. Dana: 'Helwani will not be credentialed as long as I am here'. Less than 24 hours later the ban has been lifted. Honestly, I do think, though, that Dana really was just the bad cop acting on behalf of Lorenzo Fertitta.

Subscribed. I hope everyone in media will actively support Ariel.

my respect for ariel has skyrocketed. i actually care about the guy in a 'i'll never know him' kind of way lol

Rich Eisen just gained a new subscriber. Us MMA fans appreciate you giving our own Ariel Helwani a platform to tell his story. We don't forget these things. Our sport really needs some reformation.

THing I like the most about the pre fight and post fight media questions are Ariel Helwani!!, The guy askes awesome tuff questions, not scripted boring ones

God bless helwani. best in the business, really sad too see this but ariel has the skills too keep on going

i would be down to boycott the UFC until they make this right

Well said. Wow, much respect and support from me. UFC is disgusting with their bullying. Imagine being a fighter in that organization and your livelihood depends on them. Sad and scary.

Good reporting you and Dan Patrick

Props to Rich for helping Ariel share his side

Rich Eisen > Colin Cowdouche

I'm not a fan and not defending him in particular, but I def thought the Ariel Helwani lifetime UFC ban was too much. He was simply doing what journalists want to do, report big news and the first to report..Must be nice to be making a good living doing something that is more like a lifestyle and not job-like, and being something he loves to do. God for him tho.

Thank you Rich for allowing Ariel to use your platform to address an issue that easily extends beyond Ariel, as history has shown us. Ariel Helwani is the voice of mixed martial arts and is largely responsible for building a fanbase and community. No matter how this story plays out, this was wrong and raises a lot of questions that I hope we'll see find answers to. #FreeHelwani

I'm happy the UFC got rid of Ariel Helwani! Dana and Lorenzo had enough of this snake.

its sad that a GREAT event like UFC 199 has to be overshadowed by the imcompetence and disgusting behavior of dana white and his staff. glad this story has come out.

BRING HIM BACK. ARIEL IS VIP. Dana, deep breaths, make it right

Ariel Helwan your usually always right.... & on the fans side view and also, knowing,fights that been coming,out. Respect your GRRAT JOURNALIST.👍👊

Thanks, Rich! Ariel is first class.

Time for Ariel to return back to the sea lol

No UFC pay per view for me. I'll watch the fights free on youtube after the fights.

As a european MMA fan I have no idea who Rich Eisen is or how famous he is, but what he did there for Ariel was great, publicly critizising the UFC like he did.

Thank You Rich!!

#FreeAriel

I love Ariel!! UFC needs to let him back in. #teamAriel

I am glad you are ok now, classy jornalist, ethical and very well educated. Shame DW and associates!

Ariel stepped over the line and now he has deal with outcome.

Dana and the UFC are turning off so many people with the way they treat some fighters, and now a great journalist. I know some people who are quietly boycotting them by not purchasing any pay-per-views of UFC events. I got interested in the UFC thanks to the exploits of Holly Holm, a great fighter but also a wonderfully sweet human being. The way she was treated by UFC even after she became world champion, as well as the way her gym is treated and criticized by Dana, was a huge turnoff. First people need to be sold on you before they get sold on your product. The UFC is doing a terrible job on the first job, though they have a very good product. It's a shame. Their missteps are not hurting them terribly (though they could be even bigger without them) as they are the leader in the sport. What it is doing is leaving the door open for their competitors.

Clearly Dana has taken it to far....

thank you for making this public Rich!!! this is so sad, I really hope they reconsider. Maybe they're selling and they don't want Ariel there to break the news before they do...

they just mad bcuz Helwanies gave us that great hour long nate diaz interview. the nose will be back oneday....

screw paying for ufc fights. torrent is the way to go!!

Yeah but looking at it now, at 2020 Ariel became very much cooler

Ariel u are in the fightgame!! Well now u got yourself a fight. Bring it!!

#FreeHelwani

Im not buying another ufc paperview until this wrong is fixed, this isnt right

whats the difference between mole and source? with NDA and without?

subbed! rich keeping real!

UFC and Dana White is way out of line with this, Kim Jong-Un of North Korea would be proud of Dana White

I don't care about Ariel Helwani.

Ariel's Book is going to be EPIC! I cannot wait for him to write his book. "HIghway to Helwani" he always says will be the title lol. PLus hes so young still, Im sure there will be many more adventures and scandals dealing with these dudes. Keep it up Ariel!

Welcome back Ariel!!!

What a joke!!!!! Long time UFC/MMA fan but this...

Lmao Lorenzo said he hates u lololol

I'm wondering why "Syracuse University Alumnus" was included on the video tag which showed that it was Ariel Helwani on the line.

First fired from Fox, then gets banned from UFC events. Holy crap, Ariel is the best journalist in the sport.

This is disgusting behaviour by the UFC, how can they expect to be taken seriously like the other major sports leagues if they don't act like one.

Really disliking Dana more and more

I would love to see him cover Knicks games

I like how the episodes with Ariel are the highest viewed of the Rich Eisen show.

Pirates unite against the UFC. Why are we using paypervu. It's 2016!

For everybody hating on Dana in the comments, how dumb are you, did you listen to Ariel, it was all Lorenzo.

Ah, the power struggle. I've always followed and supported the UFC. Even the Reebok deal not being great I still tried to understand their side. This is sad and pathetic how they've treated Ariel Helwani. He is perhaps the best journalist out there and has helped a great deal on selling the sport and fighters. On the flipside, Ariel has always been a love hate guy even with fighters causing drama so perhaps it's been building for a while and this is the icing on the cake.

He just got reinstated!

"Scummy things going on behind the scenes..." Yeah like sold fights...

Wanna make a difference....BOYCOTT 200.

I have one awesome suggestion for u to 'contnue' your MMA journalism - MIXED MARTIAL ANIMATIONS. You guys could take it to the next level now.. :D

I hope the views on this video shows the following and the trust Ariel has from the MMA fans.

boycott ufc