Ariel Helwani warns Brendan Schaub of payback for 'five years of lies' amid Paddy Pimblett controversy
Ariel Helwani sent a reminder to Brendan Schaub that he will forgive but never forget, referring to their beef which started back at UFC 199.
Helwani's long dispute with Dana White and Brendan Schaub began when the MMA reporter revealed that the UFC was planning to bring back Brock Lesnar at UFC 200. White was reportedly furious that the news had been leaked and banned Helwani from attending future UFC events.
Over the last five years, 'Big Brown' has stated that Ariel Helwani was told Brock Lesnar was returning by White in confidence but shared the story anyway. The Canadian journalist has denied this.
Whoa! Ariel Helwani was just removed from UFC 199 and received a lifetime ban. fb.me/6kaKSWj5j
During his UFC 282 recap show, Brendan Schaub said he believes that Helwani regularly talks about him:
"Ariel talks about living in people's heads, you don't hear a lot about me going after Ariel but you'll hear him bring me up on numerous shows. That's who he is. I don't engage with that stuff."
Check out the full podcast episode below:
Ariel Helwani has since responded to Schaub, passionately defending himself from five years of what he branded "lies:"
"When you start to attack my integrity, my ethics and who I am as a person and my reputation and you try to lie about that reputation, that's when I get p*ssed off... To Brendan and to everybody else, I will never ever forget...You talked about me for five years, you lied about me for five years. I still have five years of material on you! I still owe you for the sh*t with UFC 199."
Catch Ariel Helwani's full response here:
Ariel Helwani addresses Paddy Pimblett and Dana White
Helwani's week in the firing line started when Paddy Pimblett welcomed Dana White onto his Chattin Pony podcast last week.
During the show, the pair were previewing the weekend's UFC 282 card before they started discussing Ariel Helwani. Pimblett launched a scathing attack on the MMA journalist by stating that he only cares about making money off of fighters instead of having journalistic integrity. The UFC president agreed.
Paddy Pimblett and Dana White went into Ariel Helwani for the fighters pay issue https://t.co/NMbRxQiWsR
The 40-year-old responded to 'The Baddy' and Dana White by insisting that he works on a fixed-wage that isn't influenced by how well an interview or show he conducts does:
"They don't have to deal in the currency that is the truth. They could come out and say whatever they want. They can make up s**t all day long, and they don't have to answer for it. I do; I have to deal in the truth."
Watch the video here: