Logan Paul isn’t the biggest fan of the media. As such, it was certainly interesting to see Ariel Helwani serve as the latest guest on his Impaulsive podcast.
And while the wide-ranging conversation touched a variety of topics, it inevitably turned contentious as the two discussed Helwani’s previous reporting on the rumored fight between Paul and Conor McGregor that never came to fruition.
The debate arose from a conversation regarding Helwani breaking the story that Brock Lesnar was going to fight at UFC 200 in 2016, which irked Dana White. As the longtime MMA reporter defended his ability to maintain trust with sources, Paul recalled an instance in which he felt burned by Helwani’s reporting.
“We’ve had conversations. Do I leak it? Do I post screengrabs? Do I say, ‘oh look?'” Helwani asked.
“I think you did on one of them,” Paul stated.
“What? Get the f*ck out of here. Never,” Helwani immediately replied. “I have never in my life, I never will. And I take that sh*t very seriously.”
Paul proceeded to recall a private social media conversation the two shared regarding the rumored potential fight between himself and McGregor. According to the WWE superstar, Helwani asked him if the rumors were true, to which Paul stated they weren’t at the time, but admitted that he didn’t mind them persisting.
“You went right on your show and said, ‘they don’t have anything in place,'” Paul claimed.
Helwani recalled the situation differently, stating that he actually reported that there had been discussions regarding the potential fight. He also said he has a longstanding policy of treating such private conversations as off-the-record unless told differently.
“I didn’t break anything,” Helwani said. “I don’t know how we got down this path, but to me, the main thing is that if someone tells me something, I assume it’s off-the-record unless you say otherwise. I don’t go the opposite way.”
Paul remained persistent, even going as far as to state that Helwani had publicly cited him as a source. The Westlake, Ohio, native said that the interaction didn’t necessarily breach his trust, but that it did make him reconsider his future interactions with the MMA insider.
Helwani responded by insisting that he had reported the opposite of what Paul had told him. The 30-year-old, however, claimed that the only way Helwani could have known that talks were ongoing was based on the information he had provided, to which the Syracuse alum replied that he had other sources close to the situation.
“Were you fighting your shadow?” Helwani retorted. “There’s another opponent. Like I talk to other — there’s other people involved.”
That’s when things seemingly clicked for Paul, who realized that Helwani hadn’t, in fact, burned him and presumably obtained his information from somebody in McGregor’s camp. Taking to social media as the clip from the podcast appearance made the rounds, Helwani provided further evidence that he hadn’t done anything to betray his private conversation with Paul.
… or you can just watch the full segment and see for yourself. cc: @mikemajlak https://t.co/SKHb1sTYSU
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 13, 2025
All things considered, this was 10-7 victory for Helwani, who seemed to have a much better recollection of the entire situation than Paul did. Ultimately, it seemed as if the former YouTube star wanted to catch the host of The Ariel Helwani Show publicly reporting information that he believed to be private, which proved difficult to do when he effectively reported the opposite of what Paul had told him.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.