In a social media post last week, MMA insider Ariel Helwani announced he was leaving both Vox Media and Spotify after three years. He did not say where he was headed, only that it must be something big for him to leave to places he enjoyed working. Now, it appears he is headed next to Yahoo Sports, according to a report from A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports.
Perez reports his sources are telling him Helwani and Yahoo Sports are in “advanced negotiations.”
Helwani had said his agreements expired on August 15. “Right now, I am not ready to announce what the next step is, what the next chapter will be,” he said last week. “It is one that I’m incredibly excited about. Just consider how much I love Vox and my studio and the people there and MMA fighting. Consider how much fun I had with Spotify and the Ringer. And that should tell you just how amazing this next chapter is in my mind, because it had to be something truly amazing to say goodbye to them.
“The next step is going to be amazing. I’m so excited. It’s kind of a dream that I have been thinking about for a while finally coming to fruition, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you. And I can’t wait to let you know more about what will be happening in the very near future. So, stay tuned on that.”
A former intern and sports production assistant at HBO Sports, Helwani has covered MMA for AOL, NBC Sports, FOX Sports and ESPN amongst others. He was most recently covering the Olympics for CBC Sports.
