Ariel Helwani reignites his feud with Michael Bisping, says he helped secure Brit's title shot against Luke Rockhold : "Your life changed forever"
Ariel Helwani faced plenty of criticism leading up to the cancellation of Conor McGregor's highly-anticipated return against Michael Chandler, which had been set to headline UFC 303 in just under two weeks. The mixed martial arts analyst had been the first to reveal the bout was in jeopardy of being canceled, consistently providing updates until it was officially called off.
Some of the strongest criticism came from UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping leading Helwani to fire back during the latest episode of The MMA Hour, stating:
"No fighter in MMA has benefited more from my desire to be in the know and to report back to you, from my quest to be the best journalist that I can be. No fighter on the planet has benefited more than Michael Bisping... May of 2016, Chris Weidman tells me that he's hurt. Chris Weidman tells me that he's injured his neck, that he's not going to fight at UFC 199, June of 2016 in Inglewood. I catch wind that they're going to try to book [Ronaldo] 'Jacare' [Souza] versus [Luke] Rockhold."
Helwani continued:
"I know that Michael Bisping is reaching the end of his career, he's on a bit of a run and the dream is to become a champion... I reach out to him... 'You should throw your name in the hat, you should reach out to the UFC, this is something that no one knows about'... It's in his book. It's in his documentary... You benefited from my desire to be in the know, from my desire to be a good journalist. You benefited from it because of course, you got the fight, you got the win and your life changed forever."
Check out Ariel Helwani's full comments on Michael Bisping below:
Helwani added that his comments stem from Bisping claiming he was speculating in an attempt to be first. He labeled the former middleweight champion as a bootlicker, backtracker and backstabber.
What did Michael Bisping say about Ariel Helwani?
Michael Bisping drew the ire of Ariel Helwani due to his criticism of the mixed martial arts analyst's coverage of Conor McGregor's withdrawal from his UFC 303 bout against Michael Chandler. Speaking on his podcast, Believe You Me, the UFC Hall of Famer stated:
"Ariel Helwani is out there a lot of the time he's posting and tweeting like he's an expert on everything, but he knows nothing. He's putting feelers out there because that's what he wants to do. That's his badge of honor. He likes to break news."
Bisping continued:
"If I hear of a situation, I'm not doing investigative journalism trying to find out like my life depends on it and I will risk everything so I can be the one to break it because who gives a f**k and it's none of your business. What will be will f**king be. Stay out of it you prick."
Check out Michael Bisping's comments on Ariel Helwani and the latter's response below:
While Helwani faced criticism from Bisping and much of the mixed martial arts world for his commentary on UFC 303, ultimately he wound up being correct that the bout was in danger of being canceled. It is unclear what led to the feud between the two - who were previously on good terms - however, the former believes that his ongoing feud with Dana White has played a role.