"Bit of an ego thing" - Ariel Helwani responds to Dana White calling Saudi Arabia report "bullsh*t"
Ariel Helwani recently responded to UFC CEO Dana White dismissing his report on why the UFC's Saudi Arabia debut was pushed from March to June.
Earlier this month, Helwani reported that the UFC's planned Fight Night event in Riyadh, which was supposed to take place in March, had been pushed to June due to the hosts not being happy with the bouts on the card.
While White confirmed that the event had been postponed, he vehemently denied that it was due to the Saudi Arabian authorities demanding better bouts on the fight card. He clarified that the Kingdom was never even told about which fights would take place on the card, and the postponement was due to other reasons.
At the recent UFC 297 post-fight presser, White addressed reports surrounding the Saudi Arabian event. He said:
"Total bullsh*t. That's a straight-out f***king lie... Not one fight was announced to Saudi... I called and asked to push the card back 'cause we had a couple of guys that we wanted on the card, and they weren't ready."
It's no secret that there's no love lost between Helwani and White. The two have butted heads in the past and rarely have nice things to say about each other.
In a recent episode of The MMA Hour, Helwani pointed out that he was the one who initially reported the news and implied that White was indirectly calling him a liar. He fired back at the UFC CEO and said:
"Okay, so that was me... I reported it... He's essentially confirming my report. He's saying that it wasn't good enough. He's saying he wasn't happy with the card, so he decided to move it. Ultimately, it's a bit of an ego thing."
Watch the full episode below:
Ariel Helwani defends Dana White against public disappointment over UFC 300 card
With the highly-awaited milestone UFC 300 event just months away, Dana White has stirred up the fanbase by announcing a host of matchups set to take place on April 13. While some are excited about the card, many have expressed their disappointment about the lack of high-profile bouts.
Earlier this month, Ariel Helwani came to White's defense and suggested that fans were holding on to unrealistic expectations. He pointed out that if the same matchups were announced for any other UFC card, fans would be lauding White and said:
"It seems like every announcement is met with like, 'And what else? What else are you gonna do about UFC 300?' You're all driving yourselves insane. This is going to be a very good card. That's it. It's gonna be a very good card. And it's gonna have, probably, a big name in every single fight. And there's gonna be no sort of filler prelim. But you're all driving yourselves insane."