HONG KONG – JUNE 24: Dana White, President UFC during the Macao UFC Fight Night Press Conference at the Four Season Hotel on June 24, 2014 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. (Photo by Jayne Russell/Getty Images)
2016By Ken Fang on

To say UFC President Dana White still has a coal up his butt over Ariel Helwani is an understatement. Some quick background here. Earlier this month before UFC 199, Helwani broke the news that Brock Lesnar was going to be involved in UFC 200. Instead of celebrating the buzz by fans over Lesnar, White promptly revoked Helwani’s credentials and banned him from covering UFC events for life. While the ban was quickly lifted a few days later, White was still seething over the whole thing.

In the new UFC Unfiltered podcast hosted by Matt Serra and Jim Norton, White was asked about the the media covering mixed martial arts and he immediately went into a five minute rant about Helwani. White said Helwani breaking the news about Lesnar before the official announcement “was dirty, he knows it was dirty and he threw a big pity-party for himself (Crying noises). Crying on camera and shit. Just ridiculous.”

And that was just the tip of the iceberg:

“Nobody else does that. When you’re a real journalist, you reach out and you say, ‘Hey, this is the rumor, this is going on and everything else and I’m going to run with it.’ That’s what the real journalists do. He’s (Helwani) a website guy, you know what I mean?”

It’s obvious that White is still angry at Helwani for breaking the Lesnar news and probably will still be angry in 2036. But he still doesn’t realize that the news gave UFC plenty of buzz during the night as that was all fans were talking about leading up to the official announcement.

The rant has been transcribed:

And that segment from the UFC Unfiltered podcast has been clipped for your perusal:

https://youtu.be/pDWCbDygY-w

People from White to Joe Rogan don’t see that Helwani was actually doing UFC a service by breaking the news and providing buzz for the sport, but White is looking at this from another angle.

He’s not letting this go and once again, it makes him look petty.

[UFC Unfiltered]

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About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

View all posts by Ken Fang