Watch: When Dana White and Ariel Helwani got into a heated war of words over the No.1 pound-for-pound debate
Ariel Helwani has been a perennial presence on the MMA scene as far as one can remember. In a recent post on social media, Helwani recalled the time he participated in a heated debate with UFC President Dana White.
Helwani responded to a throwback post that was linked to a video that was shot way back in 2010. The video saw the two MMA bigwigs in a verbal showdown, discussing who the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter was in the world.
It was 10-7s back in 2010, too twitter.com/adchristiann/s…
Ariel Helwani argued that it was Fedor Emelianenko who deserved to be hailed as the pound-for-pound greatest in MMA. Dana White, on the other hand, believed that propping anyone other than Anderson Silva at the top of the food chain was nothing short of madness.
What's more, Dana White took issue with the fact that Helwani had Anderson Silva all the way down in the third position instead of first or second. White declared that Anderson Silva was talented enough to fight across multiple weight classes and emerge triumphant every single time.
Was Ariel Helwani right about Fedor Emelianenko?
Ariel Helwani, to make his case for Fedor Emelianenko, argued that the Russian had managed to consolidate an unbeaten record over the course of his career up until then.
Having competed on the professional circuit since 2002, Fedor Emelianenko had managed to remain unbeaten until June of 2010.
What is the Greatest Submission of All-Time?
#2 Seed: In a fight that ended the historic 27-fight win streak of Fedor Emelianenko, @FabricioWerdum catches The Last Emperor in a triangle-armbar heard round the world at Strikeforce: Fedor vs Werdum on June 26, 2010. https://t.co/taeuyR7Lce
The Strikeforce headliner between Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum saw Werdum snap the Russian's unbeaten streak by way of submission in the first round. Up until then, Emelianenko had managed to put together 20 wins and one No Contest on the trot.
Dana White, however, argued that Emelianenko had fought his way to the top of the food chain in his PRIDE FC days. However, his reluctance to fight top-rated fighters as frequently as Anderson Silva or Georges St-Pierre cost him a spot on the pound-for-pound list.