Ariel Helwani fires back at Paddy Pimblett in explosive exchange

Despite the hype for UFC 282, the MMA community is more interested in the spat between Ariel Helwani and Paddy Pimblett.

In two days, the Liverpudlian fighter will get back in the cage in the highest-profile bout of his career. Pimblett is scheduled to go toe-to-toe with Jared Gordon in the co-main event of the evening.

However, it appears his attention is not on his opponent, but on the sport’s highest-profile journalist. Pimblett invited UFC President, Dana White, on his podcast ‘Chattin Pony’ and gave his unfiltered opinion on the popular Canadian.

Paddy Pimblett starts a war of words with Ariel Helwani

He said: “I hate all these journalists, especially the ones that earn off us, you know what I mean? Ariel Helwani, in particular. He loves earning money off fighters. Every decent job he’s had he’s been sacked from, you know what I mean?

“Like now he’s just a biased content creator you know what I mean? He hates on you [Dana White] he hates on UFC, he even hates on me now, and it proper annoys me because he uses fighters for clicks, uses fighters to make money and then tries to have the audacity to talk about the UFC and yourself saying they don’t pay the fighters enough, get your dough out Ariel you know what I mean? Start paying people for these interviews what you make thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds on.”

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He continued: “I know that now because I make money off YouTube. So I know how much he makes off YouTube off all his interviews he does, and you’re doing it for ‘exposure’, no you’re not, you’re doing it to put money in your pocket Ariel. You little rodent.

“He wanted, like, when I was in New York for the MSG card last year, he wanted me to do an interview with him, and I had a paid interview that day and he wanted me to let go of that paid interview to do an interview with him, for BT Sport, what he’s getting paid for. And he said ‘oh no, that’s my journalistic integrity’.

Paddy Pimblett claims that Ariel Helwani isn’t a journalist

The scouser ranted: “You’re not a journalist no more. Ariel, you’re a content creator, you’re not a journalist, stop lying. You’re very biased in what you do and what you say and he went on his MMA hour and talked about me and my manager, and then I ended up messaging him. You’re going to have to bleep this out but my first line was, ‘you’re a cheeky c**t you’, you know what I mean?

“And he didn’t like it, but I was just me being honest you know what I mean? He was talking about me saying that ‘I can’t believe fighters and managers have got the audacity to ask me for money. Why wouldn’t we? You’re a content creator.”

The fighter’s comments shocked the media, and quickly prompted a response from the target of the rant.

Read: UFC 286: Massive UK PPV officially announced (sporf.com)

Ariel Helwani reveals the truth behind Paddy Pimblett beef

On the most recent edition of the MMA Hour, the ‘content creator’ revealed voice notes that belittled Pimblett’s version of events.

In the recording, the UFC star said: “Yo yo, the big fella, what’s going down Ariel? Just thought I’d let you know, lad if you wanted to say hi or do anything with the man, I’ll be in NYC in November. Think I’m going to be there from the third to the sixth. Then I’ll be coming back on the 17th or the 18th and then back to Liverpool on the 23rd. So I’m about in New York on two separate occasions in case you want to see your mate. You know what I’m saying?”

The Scouser added that he’d have to arrange it with his manager, who refused to organise the interview without payment.

Helwani continued his response by explaining why he wouldn’t pay for Pimblett’s time, noting that his job is to shine a light on the sport. In addition, as is standard practice in journalism, you aren’t meant to pay for interviews.

This has prompted the fans to turn on Pimblett. Ultimately, the 27-year-old tried utilising Helwani to boost his profile and, somehow, expected payment in return.

Featured Image Credit: MMA Hour / Chattin Pony