Ariel Helwani isn’t just an MMA insider, he is the MMA insider. In most other sports there are multiple people considered in the discussion for the top insider. In MMA, there’s Ariel Helwani and then there is everybody else. And the more you learn about Helwani, the more you realize his insider knowledge includes all combat sports and that he is a very good broadcaster, not just a very good combat sports broadcaster. That’s what I found as I eavesdropped in on The Ariel Helwani Show.
Helwani, 42, has been at this for more than 20 years. In that time, he has grown his following to include 1.4 million followers on X, 1.3 million on Instagram, 328,000 on TikTok and 223,000 subscribers on his YouTube page. A fighter once referenced him as the ‘GOAT of MMA reporting’ and he has won every ‘Journalist of the Year’ award at the World MMA Awards from Fighters Only magazine since 2010.
Helwani has been with MMA Fighting/AOL, SiriusXM, FOX and ESPN, amongst others. He was most recently with Spotify/The Ringer as well, however, his contracts with both Spotify and MMA Fighting were up for renewal recently and Helwani landed a partnership with Yahoo Sports, which is what Helwani called “a dream,” when it was announced, adding, “I’ve always wanted to own my own content, and I’ve always wanted to lead. And we are finally here, with the great Yahoo Sports by my side.”
‘Uncrowned’ is the name of the new venture and the flagship show is The Ariel Helwani Show which is live four times per week at 1 p.m. ET and available everywhere podcasts are available afterwards. Fans can also expect extra content around major events. The shows average a couple of hours or more with interviews, discussion and insight in the worlds of MMA, boxing and wrestling.
Helwani has his crew, known as ‘The Boys in the Back’, which includes Executive Producer Eric Jackman, Producers Conner Burks and Jordan Kamzan, Technical Director Andy Henriquez, Audio Engineer Frank Lenz, and Irish combat sports journalist Petesy Carroll who join in and also create some of their own content for the platform.
I chose the November 19th edition of the show to eavesdrop in on as I saw that the featured interview was with Helwani’s former co-host on ESPN’s Ariel and The Bad Guy show, Chael Sonnen, and the YouTube video of just that interview did over 250,000 views.
As the episode started, Helwani was promoting a new product from Uncrowned, in partnership with DAZN, where he will partner on a weekly show with DAZN boxing insider Ade Oladipo. “Another jewel to add to the crown,” Helwani said about the show which will air Tuesday afternoons in the US and originate from DAZN outlets. “It’s very exciting, another big thing we are doing, and we’ve got more to come as well.” Helwani then added, “The dream is becoming a reality. We are becoming an actual production facility – this is unbelievable.”
Helwani has a great set which people marvel at when they come visit in studio as a guest. A comparison would be how The Dan Patrick Show is set up, complete with the host bringing in his sidekicks for comedy relief from time to time. On this particular episode the gang makes fun of the sleeping schedule of Burks, who goes by GC, before getting into the main topics.
Helwani does a ‘This Day in History’ and while I realize the materials for the segment were researched, Helwani’s recall of things that happened over a dozen years in combat sports is pretty remarkable. In this case it was looking back on UFC 139 with Dan Henderson defeating Mauricio Rua in the featured match.
Helwani said expectations were low for the card, but “We ended up getting arguably one of the greatest fights in UFC history, certainly top five…one of the all-time great fights. Please, do me a favor if you have not watched this fight, it is Hall of Fame worthy, in fact it is in the Hall of Fame, do me a favor and watch it…incredible action…it was magic.” He then went through the rest of the card and then got into Bellator 58, where Michael Chandler defeated Eddie Alvarez which happened the same exact night as UFC 139 and all the main action happened within a couple hours of each other.
As the show went on, Helwani and his team provided information and insight in several different areas including a Bare Knuckle Fighting fight coming up, BKFC Knucklemania 5. They also had video of a Misfits Boxing press conference where there (shockingly) was extracurricular pushing and shoving between Tommy Fury and Darren Till
As Helwani brought his guys in on the topic of that fight, Petesy Carroll was hilarious when he was asked if he was interested in the Fury-Till fight (which never actually ended up taking place). Carroll said, “I’m not that interested in this fight…I think I’ll watch it because I’ve obviously got an issue when it comes to combat sports and think I need to watch everything.” Carroll then asked Helwani, “Are they contractually bound to have some type of altercation at these press conferences? I thought the novelty of these kinds of things was that they happened once in a blue moon.”
The group on the show has a lot of fun together all centered around their common love of combat sports. They play off each other well and the information and opinion you get from them is off the charts.
Proving that it isn’t all fun and games on the show, Helwani and Carroll were very serious when providing an update on a civil suit involving fighter Conor McGregor. A judge in Ireland ruled in favor of the complainant in a December 2018 incident where McGregor was accused of sexual assault. McGregor has maintained the incident involved consensual sex but was ordered to pay $257,000, a decision McGregor says he will appeal.
The in-studio interview with Chael Sonnen was next and it was content gold. The two ex-partners had a blast reuniting with one another and Sonnen is instant offense on any topic around combat sports. Sonnen is one of the great talkers of all-time in MMA and he and Helwani hit on several topics about fighters, fights, leagues, media and distribution.
Additionally, Helwani expressed his disappointment with Sonnen who failed to mention Helwani’s work on the Netflix coverage of the Paul-Tyson fight. Sonnen then went on to talk about the job Helwani did and the two engaged in a really good discussion about that fight, the card and what it meant for boxing.
After a pretty thorough breakdown, Helwani summed it up saying gambling was the real reason behind any outrage about it. Additionally, he said the promotion of the fight locked people in and made them think something was possible that probably wasn’t even close to reality when it came to how well Mike Tyson could fight at his age.
“The promotion ‘sold’ the fight,” Helwani said. “It made you believe Tyson was going to be the old Tyson with a 20-second clip…it was what people had made themselves believe – part of the art of promotion.”
The wide-ranging conversation included talking about MMA’s role in politics with the relationship between Dana White and Donald Trump. It really was a great interview, mostly because it didn’t feel like an interview, more like a phone call between two great talkers about something they are extremely passionate about. You could listen to these two talk combat sports for hours and be both entertained and informed.
Later in the show, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt competitor and four-time World Champion fighter Mikey Musumeci joined the show from his car. Musumeci has a fantastic nickname which mixes his love for Star Wars with his Italian heritage – ‘Darth Rigatoni’. Sonnen had stuck around for the interview and at one point was on the floor asking Musumeci to give him advice on how to break a certain hold. After Sonnen had left the studio, Musumeci said he wanted to ask him one more question and as the show is going on, Helwani runs to track Sonnen down to bring him back in the studio.
While a Program Director of a traditional broadcasting outlet would probably have gone nuts while all of this was going on and people are talking without being close to microphones, it made for great content to be able to see what was happening as it was happening. You definitely felt like you were a part of the broadcast.
As they start to wrap up, the news comes across that Netflix has now reported 108 million viewers around the world tuned in (or tried to) for Paul-Tyson. Helwani says, “Netflix is like ABC in the 1970’s – the Wide World of Sports…That’s the lane they are occupying, and it is a pretty damn good lane.” He adds, “It is a fascinating time in the world of sports, sports business, sports streaming and I am happy to be a part of it.”
Helwani ends promoting the show coming up later with Ade Oladipo and as he does, he again realizes how this is exactly where he wants to be and what he wants to be doing. Helwani says, “The childhood dream is all coming true. When I was 8 years old, I used to dream of hosting a show on a set much like this one talking about combat sports, reacting to mega-fights…breaking things down, having guests in studio…these are all dream-like scenarios.”
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
