"Now p*ss off" - Ariel Helwani pulls receipts in response to Jake Shields accusing him of not inviting Belal Muhammad on his show
Ariel Helwani recently blasted Jake Shields for his allegations of not inviting Belal Muhammad to his podcast. In his defense, Helwani disclosed his conversation with Muhammad's manager back in 2016, where the MMA journalist was arranging a time for the reigning champion's appearance on his show.
For context, Muhammad made an appearance on Jake Shields' Fight Back podcast on his YouTube channel and accused Helwani of not inviting him on his show because he was of Palestinian descent and the latter was Jewish.
In response, the 42-year-old chastised Muhammad, alleging that he was lying. Shields responded by taking to X and stating that Helwani could have invited him via a personal text, writing:
''You do realize that most fighters don’t watch your show right? Why don’t you send him a DM or text message. Imagine if I said in my podcast that I want you on my show and then pretended you turned down the invite. That is exactly what you are doing here.''
Helwani then claimed that he had invited Muhammad on his podcast prior to his fight at UFC 205 in 2016.
''Sure. Here’s me texting his manager in 2016 (oldest I can find) about having him on ahead of his fight UFC 205. Spoiler: he never came on. I’ve asked publicly and privately. Now p*ss off.''
Additionally, Helwani stated that Muhammad's former manager did not want the 36-year-old to come on his podcast.
As for the MMA scene, Muhammad hasn't suffered defeat in his last 11 octagon bouts. Given his impressive run, 'Remember the Name' was offered a welterweight title shot against Leon Edwards at UFC 304 earlier this year.
Muhammad put on a dominant performance and captured the UFC gold by defeating Edwards via unanimous decision. He was then scheduled to make his first title defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310, however, a foot injury prevented him from competing.
Ariel Helwani discusses meeting Nina-Marie Daniele at 2024 World MMA Awards
Ariel Helwani bagged the MMA Journalist of the Year award at the World MMA Awards, which was held this past Thursday at The Theater at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In an episode of his podcast, The Ariel Helwani Show, Helwani revealed that he met Nina-Marie Daniele backstage and had a good time speaking with the UFC content creator.
''I got to meet Frank's [Warren] favorite MMA personality Nina Drama, who couldn't have been sweeter, couldn't have been nicer. We had a nice chat in the back, I enjoyed that very much.''
Check out Ariel Helwani's comments below (via Jedi Goodman's X post):