Ariel Helwani Leaves The MMA Hour, Uncertain of Future ‘Goodbye’

Ariel Helwani

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani has announced he will leave his role as host of The MMA Hour as well as his position with Spotify.

Over the course of the last few decades, few journalists have done more to elevate mixed martial arts than Ariel Helwani. From his radio station days all the way through to working for ESPN, he has covered every inch of the sport.

From UFC to Bellator and beyond, he has broken some of the biggest stories fans have heard since his career first began. For a lot of his supporters, his name is best associated with The MMA Hour at MMA Fighting.

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In two stints as host, Helwani was able to bring on some of the biggest and best names in combat sports. His return after leaving ESPN served as a real injection of life for the community and in the last couple of years, he took the show to entirely new heights.

However, all good things must come to an end. In the following social media post, the Canadian reporter revealed that he’s moving on to new pastures.

Ariel Helwani moves on

“This has been an incredible three-year stretch post-ESPN. I got to do a lot of cool things with a lot of great people,” Helwani said. “After many, many, many, many months, of contemplating and dissecting and thinking about what the next move should be, I’ve decided to move on from both companies… I couldn’t have dreamt of a better scenario post-ESPN than this, working for two incredible companies filled with incredible people.”

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Quotes via Awful Announcing 

There are definitely still some folks out there who don’t like or respect Ariel Helwani. Alas, it’s hard to argue with his body of work, and we’re excited to see what’s in store next.

When it comes to The MMA Hour, it’s not yet clear as to what the future holds for that show.