Story By Jon Cerio
Photos courtesy of mmafighting.com, alchetron.com, lowkickmma.com, and webthethao.vn
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Ariel Helwani knows a thing or two about fighting. The six-time reigning MMA journalist of the year has broken his fair share of combat sports stories over the past decade -- just ask UFC President Dana White about that. What makes him so good? As it turns out, he's had some experience fighting battles in the past.
No, Helwani doesn't don a pair of gloves and enter a boxing ring or a cage. He doesn't have to. As a journalist, he's learned that words can pack a punch.Starting Out
The Montreal native attended Syracuse University for four years at the dawn of the millennium. He says he started as a Speech Communications major, until he could get his grades high enough to get into Newhouse, home of the university's journalism program. Helwani says he did it, at the expense of good times, parties, and friendships.
The Competition Heats Up
"I would wake up Tuesdays and Thursdays at some ungodly hour," Helwani says, in a telephone interview. "I'd walk in the dark from my dorm to the studio, to do this copy, and never see the light of day, never get on air."
A Light in the Dark
And then, Helwani saw the light. Ironically, it was in the confines of a closet-like room, in the bowels of the student center. A university radio station called WERW.
At that station, Helwani says he found productivity, creativity, and eventually, his voice doing shows about mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, getting stars in those fields, like Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, on his show.
"It was great, because, who the heck was I?" Helwani asks. "And they were kind enough to come on my show, and talk to, you know, a university student."
At that station, Helwani says he found productivity, creativity, and eventually, his voice doing shows about mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, getting stars in those fields, like Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, on his show.
"It was great, because, who the heck was I?" Helwani asks. "And they were kind enough to come on my show, and talk to, you know, a university student."
It didn't matter how many people were listening to the station. Helwani says getting these connections helped him find the confidence that would later become the blueprint for his journalism career.
In the Real World
Post-graduation, there would be missed opportunities and detours along Helwani's path. He says a broken ankle in a pickup basketball game cost him a chance to intern at the Athens Olympics in 2004. He found work that summer from contacts at a previous internship at HBO Sports, which led to production work at Spike TV.
Helwani says the position seemed like the perfect fit. He soon realized that it wasn't the creative outlet that he had hoped it to be and it was there that he reached a crossroads, and decided to continue his pursuit of sports journalism, to the dismay of his bosses.
"They were very disappointed, and they said I was going to regret this, and that I was being unprofessional, and that I was making the biggest mistake of my career." .
So instead of giving his employers a two-week notice, Helwani says he gave himself a six-month notice. 180 days to make his way in journalism. He says he created his own website from his Spike TV cubicle.
One website, one interview a day, with the fighters of mixed martial arts. On day 177, he says he was offered a journalism job that paid him more than Spike TV at the time.
One website, one interview a day, with the fighters of mixed martial arts. On day 177, he says he was offered a journalism job that paid him more than Spike TV at the time.
More Opponents Ahead
Helwani currently works as a reporter for MMAFighting.com, also known as SB Nation. He's had stints with Fox Sports and Sirius XM as well. Back in June, Helwani faced another challenge. He was embroiled in a mainstream controversy with the UFC. At the UFC 199 pay-per-view, Helwani says he had his credentials revoked by the company and Dana White for breaking the news of a possible Brock Lesnar return to UFC.
Helwani says he believes the punishment was a result of him breaking the news before the company wanted it released. He insists he did nothing wrong.
"I didn't do anything unethical to get that information," Helwani declares. "No different than the 100 pieces of news that I get every single day, from different sources, that I've developed over time."
The UFC reinstated Helwani soon after the uproar, and his appearance on ESPN to discuss the matter with Rich Eisen.
An Uncertain Future
Helwani says the future of mixed martial arts is a big unknown right now, after the recent sale of the UFC to entertainment company WME-IMG. He says that, in spite of the controversy, he has a good relationship with Dana White, who is still a major part of the company.
Helwani plainly will have to roll with the punches. Good thing for him, he has some experience with that.
Here is the Transcription of the Interview:
Jon: Let’s start off, first question, can you tell me a little bit about your time at Newhouse?
Ariel: Yeah, of course. Well my time at Newhouse was a very interesting one. I can’t, I would be lying if I said it was 100 percent positive. When I went to Newhouse, back in 2001, amazingly it’s been almost 15 years, I don’t know if I was mentally ready for the entire experience. Actually, I should clarify, I applied to go to Newhouse, but I got into Speech Com. They put me in Speech Com, and they told me I need to get a GPA of over 3.5. 3.5 or above to get into Newhouse. And I decided that I was going to go for it. And, I didn’t really open myself up to meeting people, and having, you know, you’re typical first year in college. And having fun, going to parites and things like that. I was very focused on my schoolwork, trying to get that 3.5. And luckily, I got to 3.51 GPA, and I was able to transfer over to Newhouse. But where I come from, in Montreal, the culture is not to go away for university. So all my friends stayed back home, and were, you know, hanging out, and experiencing life together, and I was all by myself. So that made me very homesick, and I felt at that time, that it was a very exclusive community, the Newhouse one. And I applied to WAER, and I also felt. I worked there for a little bit, and I felt that was a very exclusive community. And, I didn’t enjoy a lot of the, you know, the day in, day out stuff that Newhouse had to offer. It made me a stronger person, and it definitely gave me a solid foundation. But it’s interesting, when I left there in 2004, I told myself that I’m never coming back to Syracuse. Unless they asked me to come back to be a speaker. Because, when I was there, you know like Bob Costas, and other people, famous people would come. And I was very much in awe of those people. And I said, unless they come to me and say, you know, we want you to speak to students, that would be the only time I would ever come back. And two Novembers ago, Professor Nicholson invited me to come back and speak to the students. And that was my first time coming back, so that was a pretty cool thing.
Jon: I’m sure it would be. And I’d be happy to have you come back if you ever wanted to come back again. I’m sure Professor Nicholson would love to have you back.
Ariel: Oh yeah, yeah, it was actually more beneficial for me than anyone else, because I was able, I felt like I was able to sort of close that wound and make amends to the school, and now I’m very proud of my time there.
Jon: Can you elaborate a little bit more about when you said it was sort of an exclusive environment with WAER and Newhouse? Is it something to do with ethnicity or anything like that? Or just a cultural thing? What do you think made it so exclusive for you?
Ariel: No, honestly, I don’t think it was a cultural or ethnic thing at all. I just think it kind of felt like this sort of country club, and I felt like the guys who were running it, there was a sort of hierarchy. And it felt like the guys who were running it were giving opportunities to their friends. And, they would make you..I would wake up Tuesdays and Thursdays at some ungodly hour. I think it was 3:15 or 3:30am. And I’d walk in the dark with my, you know, from my dorm to the studio, to do this copy, and never see the light of day, never get on air. And I just felt like it was, not very productive. And I didn’t feel like, you know, there was no one there to answer questions, no one there to, you know. And I feel like it was very competitive, and a lot of people wanted to do it. But it’s just not the way I would go about it. It didn’t feel like there was a leadership, it didn’t feel like they were trying to take us under their wing. You know, it felt to me from the get go they knew who they wanted to succeed and rise up the ladder. To be honest, I never wanted to be like the suit and tie, like “Welcome everybody to the Carrier Dome,” like that. I didn’t want to be that kind of broadcaster. And so it didn’t really fit my dream. And that’s why I actually went to a station called WERW. Which, you know, they were broadcasting out of the student center, in this little closet. Nothing, like it looks like now. I actually went back to see it. It’s a lot nicer now. And you know, they just gave me a two hour slot, and I was able to experiment with that, and have fun, and have my own show. And that fit my needs a lot more.
Jon: I think I know exactly what you’re talking about. Down in the basement of the student center. I think they called it the Jabberwocky Café.
Ariel: Yup, that’s exactly it. Yes. 100 percent. Yup, I would go there. Sunday mornings I would go there.
Jon: But it turned out, it worked out for you. I mean, you made it work.
Ariel: Yeah, well you know, when I got there, I got the sense that everyone wanted to be the next Costas, Marv Albert, you know, the traditional sports broadcasters. Like I said, I love those guys. And I looked up to them, but I never wanted to be quite like them. And so that’s why I actually went down the MMA path, and the combat sports path in particular, so I had a pro-wrestling/MMA radio show, and I would have all kinds of guests on. I remember getting Bobby “The Brain” Heenan on for 90 minutes, and it was just unbelievable, and it was probably like 5 people listening to it. But what a thrill it was, he gave me all the time in the world. And so, that to me, I think prepared me for what I do now. Way more so than doing the thing that WAER was telling us to do.
Jon: That’s pretty awesome. You got Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Was that a difficult get to find?
Ariel: Nowadays, guys are a lot more accessible on Twitter and Facebook. What I would do is go to the…some personalities would have websites, and I would go to their websites and write in to them. So I remember getting Dave Meltzer on, and coincidentally we now work together. That was a big thrill getting Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Dan Severn, I got Maven from “Tough Enough,” and some of the other “Tough Enough” winners. There was a woman, that I got as well. I forget her name now. That was amazing. And I got a whole bunch of others from the UFC, and some other UFC fighters as well. It was great, because, who the heck was I? And they were kind enough to come on my show, and talk to, you know, a university student, was a huge thrill. But, you know, for some reason I always enjoyed talking to the wrestlers. Oh, Tommy Dreamer was another one that I got, It was just a thrill to get some of the wrestlers/fighters, because I felt they were much better interviews, a lot more open, and those worlds were so unique, that it just made for more interesting content, in my opinion.
Jon: That is, really encouraging to me, especially to hear about that. Because I can kind of relate to your situation. I don’t really see myself in that Costas-type role either. I definitely have an interest in the WWE side of things. And I do have an interest in MMA, boxing and that sort of thing. But yeah, to see that you went with where your passion was, that really encourages me to hear that.
Ariel: Yeah, and by the way, when I left Syracuse, when I was in broadcast journalism. They were really pushing the whole, you know, local tv angle, you gotta go to South Dakota, and work your way up. And go to this market and that market. That really didn’t interest me either. I remember sitting in Professor Nicholson’s office, and you know, him sort of telling me that whole thing. And, you know, I just wanted to do my own thing. I knew, kind of what I wanted to do, and I knew what kind of sport I wanted to cover, and how I wanted to cover it. And the interesting about covering those kind of sports in this day and age, is you know, the best of the best, they’re all very accessible, via social media. When I started my own website in 2007, the goal of the site was just to start, to just post an interview, with a fighter every morning. And what I would do, is I would go on MySpace, and I would send out around 50 messages, a day, to the Tito Ortiz’s and the Chuck Lodell’s of the world, and if I got two, three, four responses I was good. You know, I had two, three, four days of content. And you’d be surprised by the people who responded to me. So it’s not as hard as you think. And then, you establish a relationship with them, you give them a good interview, you don’t take up too much of their time, and then you’re on to the next one. And then you can come back to them in a couple of months, and they’re like “Oh I remember that guy. He kept me on for 15, 20 minutes. No big deal. And then, you know, it was pretty harmless. And so that’s how I started to build some momentum.
Jon: That’s pretty great. Yeah, I kind of definitely want to go the same route. I do not want to go to a South Dakota, or to a Washington I know, actually, one of your, I believe it was one of your classmates, Anish Shroff from ’04 he graduated as well. He was talking to the class earlier this semester, about going to Tacoma, Washington. And that’s where he kind of started out, I mean after the “Dream Job” scenario. But, just to hear that, that it’s an option not to do that. That means a lot.
Ariel: No way. Not in this day and age. Not with the Internet, and all the options there. And how everything is moving towards the Internet. I actually feel that people going the opposite direction are doing it wrong. You know it’s funny, I have a funny story about Anish. I was in his class, he was one of those WAER guys. Good guy, I have nothing bad to say about him, from what my limited interactions were with him. A few years back, someone tweeted him, and said “Hey, you were at Syracuse at around the same time that Ariel Helwani,” and he tagged me in the tweet as well. And said like “Did you know him?” And he’s like “I never met him.” And like, I definitely met him, and I was in his class. So that’s sort of how irrelevant I was. And I kind of got a chuckle out of that.
Jon: Well, you’re certainly not irrelevant now. MMA journalist of the year for what, six years, seven years running?
Ariel: Yeah, six
Jon: Yeah, that’s pretty impressive. Were you afraid to follow your focus? You were passionate, it sounds like. You knew what you wanted, and you weren’t going to take no for an answer.
Ariel: No, so when I graduated, from, when I graduated from Syracuse, there was this internship. This was 2004, and there was this internship with the NBC Olympics. And I went through these meetings, and these interviews and stuff, and they picked a few of us Newhouse graduates to be runners for the Olympics that summer in Athens. And I got one of the positions, and I actually had to…I went home after graduating in May, and I was playing basketball, and I broke my ankle. The first major injury that I ever suffered in my life. And I was in a cast, and I was on crutches, and I couldn’t go to Athens anymore. So, the summer before, between my junior and senior year, I had an internship at HBO Sports. And they offered me a one-year job to work in their documentary department. So I moved to New York, and I worked in their documentary department. And I started to like TV production, and I kind of decided that I was going to go down that path, and work in TV production. Sort of put my dreams of being a broadcaster on hold. And then I worked for another TV production company, a show on ESPN Classic. And then I was doing some work for Spike TV, and I decided that Spike TV was the best place for me, Spike TV was where I needed to be. They were the home of the UFC at the time. And so I got a job at Spike TV, in September of 2007, and after one week there I realized, that oh, this is not the right place for me, I realized that they don’t really do anything creative. They just get the content from the UFC and put it on their air. They’re really more managers than producers. And so after a week, I realized that this was not the right fit, so I wanted to leave, to quit. And they actually made me stick around for a month, til they found someone to replace me. And it was during that time that I decided, hey, this is the crossroads of my career. And I need to go for it, I need to go for the journalism, for the broadcaster route that I, you know, always wanted to pursue. In combat sports and all that kind of stuff. So I actually started my own website from the cubicle, at Spike TV, and I said I was going to give myself six months to get noticed. And I was going to start in October, of 2007, and I was going to give myself a deadline of April of 2008. And if I don’t get a job, if this doesn’t lead to a job, I’m going to go back to TV production. So every morning, like I said, I would post an interview with a fighter, I was sending the interviews out. I didn’t care if 100 people or 100,000 saw the website, as long as the right people saw it. And, luckily, with three days left on my deadline, March 28th, I got a job, a full-time job, making more money than I was making at Spike TV. And that’s kind of what started it all for me.
Jon: Wow, talk about cutting it close. Three days to spare. I can, I sort of relate to that. When I went into college initially, I wanted to do broadcasting for ESPN. Turned out I ended up pursuing the production route, and spent about ten years doing it. I’m actually, probably the same age as you, because I finished college in ’04 as well, but I went to Ithaca. It was between SU and Ithaca, and I made the poor choice of going to Ithaca, because that was the year SU won the national title with Carmello.
Ariel: Oh, I was there too.
Jon: Yeah, I could have been one of your classmates, or at least in Newhouse. But I chose Ithaca, and I never really was happy with that choice. But, it worked out.
Ariel: You went back to school?
Jon: Yup. I went and got another Masters at Newhouse in, I finished that in 2008. And now, I’ve been working in TV still, and I realized, what I really want is sports broadcasting. What I want is to do combat sports. WWE, UFC, Bellator, or boxing. All that kind of stuff.
Ariel: That’s great.
Jon: Yeah, so I’m really glad I’m getting to talk to you about this. And I can relate with you on a lot of things. And it’s encouraging. So, I really appreciate that. So, do you mind if we talk about the big controversy, or is that something you really don’t like talking about?
Ariel: Oh yeah, no worries.
Jon: Because I know, especially because I follow Brock Lesnar from a different viewpoint. I was watching UFC 200. And, I know the controversy happened at 199. I don’t want to get into the details of it. But do you regret the way you went about it? I saw that you talked with Rich Eisen, and you said you wouldn’t change anything. Do you still feel the same way, that you wouldn’t change anything?
Ariel: Yeah, yeah. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was doing my job. No different than any other sports reporter, Adam Schefter. Woj for basketball. Bob Mackenzie for hockey. I mean, I just, I got a piece of information. I didn’t do anything unethical to get that information. No different than the 100 pieces of news that I get every single day, from different sources, that I’ve developed over time. I confirmed that piece of information with multiple sources, very good ones, obviously, because it was true. And then I reported it. And I reported that they were in serious talks. And that, you know, it was close to happening. And, two hours later they ended up announcing it. Never did I think they would react that way, or that it would be taken that way. And quite frankly, I think that had nothing happened, and they just kind of, maybe were upset that I quote unquote beat them to the punch or whatever. I think by the next day, and certainly by UFC 200, everyone would have forgotten who had it first. But my job at MMA fighting, among other things, is to try to break news as much as I can, and get scoops. And it’s tough, in this sport, and in this space, as opposed to the NFL or the NBA. Because in those sports, you’re dealing with 32 owners, and 32 GMS, and all these players, and coaches. In our sport, you’re dealing for the most part with one owner. And they can control the message very much, and they like to control the message very much. And I get that, from their perspective. But they also have to get it from my perspective. As this sport continues to grow, there’s more news, there’s more interest, there’s bigger appetites for the news, and all that stuff. So, I did nothing wrong. I did nothing unethical. I didn’t break any embargos, I didn’t report anything that I was told off the record. I mean it was 100 percent kosher. 1000 percent kosher. And so yeah, I would do the exact same thing today.
Jon: Well I respect you for standing your ground. I agree, you did the right thing. With the new ownership of UFC, I know Dana White’s still attached to the company. Do you feel it’s going to be different going forward? With the relations with the owners, and Dana?
Ariel: You know, I don’t know. I think that remains to be seen. I really don’t know. I think the great unknown is what’s going to happen. You know I really don’t know, forget about my situation. I don’t know about anything. But it’s a big unknown as far as like the future of the sport. So, I would be guessing if I said I think this or that is going to change. I will say this, I’ve always had a good relationship with Dana. He’s always been great to me, he’s been very kind to me throughout my career. Lorenzo Fertitta I haven’t had the best relationship with. I mean, never a contentious, but just not as warm. And Dana’s staying, Lorenzo’s leaving. You know, they’re still very close obviously. I don’t know what that means. But, you know, I guess worth noting.
Jon: Well, I guess it remains to be seen. Well, I don’t want to take too much of your time. I know I took about 20 minutes worth.
Ariel: No problem
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