Ariel hired by ESPN & to host with Chael

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FrankieNYC

"My balls was hot!"
Aug 13, 2017
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View: https://twitter.com/ESPNPR/status/997173760657690624


Award-winning multimedia journalist will cover MMA across ESPN media, have his own podcast and co-host with Chael Sonnen “Ariel & The Bad Guy,” a new original weekly show on ESPN+
Award-winning mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist and host Ariel Helwani will join ESPN in June to cover the MMA world. Helwani will have several roles at ESPN, including: co-host of “Ariel & The Bad Guy,” a new weekly MMA program on ESPN+; host of ongoing podcast “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” and reporter for MMA across ESPN digital media and television platforms.

Helwani joins ESPN from SB Nation’s MMAFighting.com. He has been covering MMA professionally since 2006, is a seven-time winner of “MMA Journalist of the Year” at the World MMA Awards and a previous contributor to MMA coverage for Fox Sports. Born in Montreal, Canada, he is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Helwani said, “For as long as I can remember, my dream has been to work at ESPN. I know the term ‘dream come true’ is often overused, but this is truly that for me. Growing up in Montreal we didn’t get ESPN, but any time my family would travel down south I would stay in our hotel room as long as possible watching the morning SportsCenter on loop. I’ve loved all things ESPN since I was a kid, and in all honesty, it still feels a bit surreal that I am joining the gold standard in sports media. I couldn’t be more excited to get started and am extremely thankful for the opportunity.”

“Ariel and The Bad Guy” will team Helwani with professional fighter and ESPN MMA analyst, Chael Sonnen, for a fast-paced 30-minute weekly breakdown of the top stories, developments and upcoming fights. New episodes will be available on ESPN+ each Wednesday, beginning June 20, and there will be special episodes before and after major mixed martial arts events.

Rob King, ESPN’s Senior Vice President of Original Content, Newsgathering & Digital Media, said: “Ariel is a dynamic and talented insider, whose insights and acumen will expand and enhance our multimedia coverage of the mixed martial arts world. Pairing Ariel and Chael, the insider and the fighter, on ESPN+ is going to make for an energetic and engaging show that will be must-see for any MMA fan.”

On teaming with Helwani for their new show, Chael Sonnen said: “I’m pumped. Fans are going to love the show Ariel and I are doing. And like they say… You can’t spell MMA on ESPN without C-H-A-E-L! Ummmmm… Wait a sec….”
 

FrankieNYC

"My balls was hot!"
Aug 13, 2017
3,959
6,760
Shocked by this.
ESPN are in the UFC business now so they hire someone pretty negative about UFC.
I wonder if he will be neutered at all?
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,330
Good hire for ESPN. Good gig for Ariel. That podcast should be awesome too.
 

ECC170

Monster's 11,ATM 2,Parlay Challenge,Hero GP Champ
Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
14,376
23,677
Seems like when they brought him on Monday morning discussing the Pennington fiasco it was a early dose of them using him.
 

The Sound of Violence

Host of a podcast about mma podcasts
Oct 28, 2015
2,975
4,612
Good for Ariel I'm interested to see how the change affects the guests and runtime of his new podcast. Also calling it now that show with Chael is going to be a clickbait headline trash fire every week.
 

kneeblock

Drapetomaniac
Apr 18, 2015
12,435
23,026
This is actually a great move to show that ESPN wants people willing to be critical of the product rather than just having a wholly UFC produced vehicle. It would be nice if they added Leslie Smith to go all the way.
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
39,772
53,672
Hopefully they make him buy some proper shoes.
 

Tiiimmmaaayyy

First 100 ish
Jan 19, 2015
7,990
9,940
I would rather just continue to listen to Chael P on his own show. Ariel drives me crazy. Hopefully You’re Welcome will continue as well.
 

Robbie Hart

All Biden Voters Are Mindless Sheep
Feb 13, 2015
49,703
50,709
He’s going mainstream and will be boring as fuck.....but I don’t listen to him anymore anyway so means fuck all to me
 
Sep 21, 2017
457
653
Ariel should resign as the Vice President of the MMA Journalists Association immediately! Conflict of interest.
 

tang

top korean roofer
Oct 21, 2015
9,398
12,402
Ariel and the Bad Guy?

Seems very original,

*cough*
Fighter and the Kid?
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,330
This is actually a great move to show that ESPN wants people willing to be critical of the product rather than just having a wholly UFC produced vehicle. It would be nice if they added Leslie Smith to go all the way.
It will be interesting to see if he continues to be so openly critical of the UFC when he joins ESPN.
 

MMAHAWK

Real Gs come from California.America Muthafucker
Feb 5, 2015
15,098
32,957
It will be interesting to see if he continues to be so openly critical of the UFC when he joins ESPN.
Will Chael promote Bellator? Let’s say his fight vs Fedor goes head to head with a UFC event. I wonder how much time he’ll spend on his fight.
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,330
Will Chael promote Bellator? Let’s say his fight vs Fedor goes head to head with a UFC event. I wonder how much time he’ll spend on his fight.
Will be interesting to see if they both become shills or are given the freedom to speak openly and promote other organizations.
 

FrankieNYC

"My balls was hot!"
Aug 13, 2017
3,959
6,760
Will be interesting to see if they both become shills or are given the freedom to speak openly and promote other organizations.
I would guarantee they will discuss Bellator, they have to for big events.
They are ESPN

As far as shilling?
I never thought Helwani was a shill when he was paid by UFC for Fox.
I do think after he was fired, he had an obvious agenda though.
What I do see is him calming down on the anti-UFC stuff & being the way he was 3-4 years ago
 

FrankieNYC

"My balls was hot!"
Aug 13, 2017
3,959
6,760
Dana will try his best to squash this
It will be interesting
You know he can't be too happy about it

It also shows how WME handles the big negotiations & Dana the day by day.
If Dana was dealing with ESPN on the negotiations, this would not have occurred.
I am guessing both sides play nice at first
 

FrankieNYC

"My balls was hot!"
Aug 13, 2017
3,959
6,760
Will Chael promote Bellator? Let’s say his fight vs Fedor goes head to head with a UFC event. I wonder how much time he’ll spend on his fight.
I don't see any scenario where ESPN won't allow warranted coverage of Bellator. They need to keep credibility in that regard.
on an MMA-centric show, Bellator should receive coverage fair to the market share/interest.

As stated the only thing I can see is ESPN telling Helwani not to be so anti_UFC & to start fresh.

the real test will be when things air in 2019, I am guessing the 7 month lead up to the content distribution will be trial & error.