Ariel Helwani considered staying at ESPN to spite Dana White

Despite their long-running public standoff, UFC president Dana White finds himself working alongside Ariel Helwani’s former employer, ESPN, after the UFC’s successful merger with WWE last year.

In a recent interview with Pablo Torre, Helwani revealed a surprising twist: joining ESPN worsened his strained relationship with UFC president Dana White. White viewed Helwani’s presence at ESPN as a more significant threat than his previous reporting on Fox.

Appearing on the Awful Announcing Podcast this week, Helwani revealed that he considered staying at ESPN to defy White. Helwani explained that he ultimately walked away despite an offer from ESPN in February or March 2021, nearing the end of his contract in June.

In his conversation with host Brandon Contes, Helwani let it be known that he was willing to be petty enough to stick around. However, his subsequent conversations with a therapist made him realize that it wouldn’t be a wise career move.

“Honestly, I was going to take it. And I was only gonna, if I’m being 1,000 percent honest with you, in spite of Dana White. I knew he wanted me to go. And I said to myself, ‘Well, you know what, I’m a petty person. I’ll stick around just to piss them off.’ Actually, around that time, I started to talk to a therapist because I was feeling very conflicted because that’s not a reason to stick around anywhere. And it felt week after week that the clouds were opening up in my brain.

“And then I kind of came to this conclusion, well, this is very silly, and I want to go to where I’m happy, and I want to go back to the old me. And that’s why I ended up going back to my old show, but also, I realized that I had the ability to essentially look at my career as a puzzle, as a pie, and I could slice it up in many different ways and get the opportunity to work for many different people. And it’s been incredible.”

Despite holding no grudge against ESPN, Helwani ultimately decided it wasn’t the right fit. He acknowledged ESPN’s positive impact on the UFC and his fondness for his colleagues, but staying solely to spite White wasn’t a strong enough reason to remain.

“Given my relationship or whatever you want to call it — and it’s not one that I want to have — I just only know one way to cover the sport, and that’s just honestly, and I would argue that 98% of the stuff I talk about for about13-14 hours a week, is very positive and promoting the UFC,” explained Helwani. “But sometimes, you do have to talk about the underbelly and the not-so-positive things. I view that as sports. And I think sometimes they view that as me being personal, and it’s not personal for me.

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