“Back in your life, baby!”
Ariel Helwani is on the move again, but this time he is spreading a wide net.
Back in 2018, Helwani pulled down the curtain on his highly successful show, The MMA Hour, on MMA Fighting and headed for a new role with ESPN. He fronted The Ariel Helwani Show and Ariel & The Bad Guy [with Chael Sonnen] and was on-hand for the broadcaster’s coverage of the big pay-per-view events.
When former UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier lay down his gloves in The Octagon, and retired, the pair produced ‘DC & Helwani’ remotely, and did so for most of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On June 13, though, Helwani announced he would be leaving ESPN. Over on his Instagram page, the Canadian stated:
“I want to let you know that there’s no hard feelings here. ESPN did offer me a new contract. I signed for 3 years back in 2018. They offered me a new contract. I was given the opportunity to look at what was out there for me and I found a lot of exciting opportunities and a lot of things that think the fans will really like and be pumped about, as I am as well.
“I’m not quite ready to announce that. I’ll tell you about that soon.”
That announcement took eight days but, for legions of Helwani’s fans, it was worth the wait. He has not one, but five new homes.
The biggest news for Mixed Martial Arts followers is the August return of The MMA Hour. Helwani is returning to the the show that saw him become the pre-eminent MMA voice in media from August 16. It will increase its’ output to twice a week.
The Montreal native says he had been thinking about making a move from ESPN for the past year, but is delighted to have a clear path ahead of him.
He will also be joining BT Sport as a correspondent covering UFC, WWE and boxing. Helwani wrote:
‘It’s coming home … and I’m coming home! So excited to be a part of the BT Family. They have an incredible team already in place, and I’m honoured to now be a small part of it, as well.’
That is not all, however. Helwani wants his ‘own personal sandbox’ to be more creative and write about more than just MMA.
He will be penning some columns for Substack, doing some separate work with YouTube [reviving his original channel] and is also set to work with Bill Simmons’ The Ringer podcast network. That podcast will feature on Spotify, who bought up The Ringer in 2020.
Spotify bought up Locker Room recently, too, and renamed it ‘Green Room’. Helwani will also be on that, before and after big MMA events.
