Ariel Jacob Helwani (born July 8, 1982) is a Canadian-American sports journalist, known for his coverage of mixed martial arts (MMA) and professional wrestling.
[1] Ariel Helwani (the surname indicates a family connection to the city of Helwan in Egypt) was born to Mizrahi Jewish parents in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as the youngest of four siblings.
[2] His father is of Syrian lineage but was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, and his mother is from Beirut, Lebanon.
[2] He credits his mother, "who [his] friends would always call for advice", for his interview skills, and his father, "who never gave an excuse or took a sick day", for his work ethic.
[4] Helwani served as an "MMA Insider" for Fox Sports 1's weekly UFC Tonight show and other pre- and post-event programming from 2011.
[15] Calling it the biggest regret of his life, Helwani said he accepted the arrangement by viewing the money as coming from Fox and "filtered through" Zuffa.
"[11] On June 4, 2016, Helwani and two of his MMA Fighting colleagues were escorted out of UFC 199 before the main event started.
[25] The UFC 199 incident facilitated the June 2017 formation of the Mixed Martial Arts Journalists Association, with interim president Dann Stupp stating "Our initial efforts in 2009 never got off the ground, but we're doing this now because it's become increasingly obvious that it's long overdue".
[11] "Not working for @SHOsports anymore on the May/Mac tour," wrote Helwani on Twitter, "UFC specifically asked to have me removed.
"[27] With his contract with MMA Fighting set to expire in June 2018, Helwani received an offer from ESPN that February.
[10] Helwani joined ESPN in June 2018, shortly after the company announced their 5-year, $1.5 billion rights package with the UFC.
[30] Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Helwani made just short of $500,000 a year at ESPN, but their new offers to him included a 5% pay reduction as part of company wide cost-cutting.
[12] He also began working for BT Sport and Spotify/The Ringer, where he also covers boxing and professional wrestling, while creating non-MMA content for his own YouTube channel.
[37] After interning on the show in 2003, Helwani returned to Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in July 2022, this time as an on-air correspondent.
He announced he will be hosting a new program alongside some of his colleagues from MMA Fighting and Spotify, called The Ariel Helwani Show, set to begin airing three times a week in mid October 2024.
[39][41] Helwani was kosher from seventh grade until his mid-20s, when he found it too difficult to stick to while traveling for work, but said he still uses tefillin every day.