Nick Piccone
UFC 199 was one of the the company’s best pay-per-views of the year, perhaps in its history. The fights were tremendous and the announcements of McGregor/Diaz II and Brock Lesnar returning for UFC 200 just made the event even better.
But, UFC is a privately owned company, so they can do as they please.
On Saturday night, that meant kicking out three reporters before the night’s main event. One of those reporters was Ariel Helwani, who is widely regarded as the best MMA reporter in the industry. Here’s how the world found out about it:
I was escorted out of the building by Zuffa staff before the main event. Credential taken away, too. Didn't see Bisping realize his dream.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
My long-time colleagues @ekc and @allelbows were also escorted out of the building w/ me. Sorry to report no post-fight coverage tonight.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
I love this sport & this job with all my heart. Did nothing unethical. I reported fight news. That's it. & then told we're banned for life.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
Here's hoping cooler heads prevail. I sincerely love every fighter & fan of this sport. You have helped me realize a dream. Thank you.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
Unbelievable. Before the pay-per-view even began, Helwani broke two huge stories – ones that UFC clearly didn’t want to be broken before they could do it. According to Helwani, he didn’t do anything unethical and was just doing his job.
And he was. But that didn’t prevent UFC from flexing their muscles and removing him from the arena before the event was over. You know, after the official announcements were made during the pay-per-view. Those announcements were Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz headlining UFC 202 in September and Lesnar’s return to the octagon for UFC 200 next month.
Helwani said that he’s been banned for life, but I can’t fathom that’ll remain the case. But he’s not the first reporter to be banned by UFC. Both Jeremy Botter and Jonathan Snowden have been banned by UFC recently for breaking news.
https://twitter.com/JESnowden/status/739483640795648000
Rachel Nichols put it perfectly:
I'm not pretending sportswriters are producing the Pentagon Papers here. But sport is a central part of American life, of our kids’ lives…
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 5, 2016
…of our natl holidays. We wrap football around Thanksgiving, b-ball around Xmas & baseball around the 4th of July. Sports are important…
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 5, 2016
…to us. And if you create a system where the only people who are allowed to cover a sport are people who do/say exactly what the league…
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 5, 2016
…wants them to, then you don’t have a media who can question things when they go off the rails. And as we've seen…they do sometimes.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 5, 2016
Even WWE doesn’t ban reporters from breaking news. This type of stuff could happen in the NFL, NHL, NBA or MLB in the near future. It’s not OK.
Helwani curiously left FOX Sports 1 earlier this year, as well. UFC and FOX are in bed together, so that raised some eyebrows, but nothing to this extent occurred.
We probably won’t have to wait too long for answers, at least from Helwani to understand exactly what happened.
Thank you. I sincerely can't thank you all enough. I'm still here. All will be addressed tomorrow on #themmahour, as well as other outlets.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
It's hard to wrap my head around all of this, but to everyone fan, fighter, manager, friend who reached out: thank you.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
And to every journalist/media member who tweeted or reached out: I'm eternally grateful to you. Thank you all very much. Until tomorrow…
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
FTR, I will forever be proud to be an MMA journalist. I am proud of that title and take the responsibility that comes w/ it seriously.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2016
Helwani didn’t report any false information or go about it unethically. There was no reason for UFC to banish him.