Report: Ariel Helwani Banned From First Leg Of McGregor vs. Mayweather World Tour
It looks like the first leg of the awaited Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather world tour will be without one of MMA’s biggest media personalities.
With the hype and trash talk set to get started today from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, at 5:30 p.m. EST /2:30 p.m. PST, lines are reportedly out the door for the anticipated event. But when the questions do start from the press, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani will apparently not be with them.
Helwani just tweeted that he would no longer be working for SHOWTIME Sports as the UFC specifically requested to have him removed from the opening leg of the tour, after which he expressed his disappointment at their decision:
Not working for @SHOsports anymore on the May/Mac tour. Just learned UFC specifically asked to have me removed. Incredibly disappointed.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 11, 2017
Helwani also revealed that he had taken a late flight from New York City to be in L.A. for the tour, and was dealt the news when he arrived. Even with that disappointment, however, he reassured fans he would be at future tour stops in Toronto and New York:
Took red eye from NY to LA only to get this news moments ago. Still credentialed for the tour and will also be in Toronto and NY. All good.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 11, 2017
If you’ll remember, Helwani’s beef with the UFC runs deep, and he was notoriously barred from covering last year’s UFC 199, also in Los Angeles, when he broke the massive story that former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was returning at the landmark UFC 200 hours before it was to be officially announced during the pay-per-view (PPV) main card.
He then opened up about his tepid past with the UFC in an emotional segment on his weekly show “The MMA Hour” the following Monday, discussing his tenuous-at-best relationship with the previous UFC regime and adding that it even once became physical became him, Dana White, and Lorenzo Fertitta.
It appears that dislike for Helwani’s style of journalism has carried over into the new regime, as well.
