Joaquin Buckley thinks Ariel Helwani’s days are numbered.
Last year, Buckley appeared on The MMA Hour, which was hosted by Helwani before his split with MMA Fighting. During the segment, Buckley tore into the long-time combat sports journalist, accusing him of trying to use fighters as ammunition for his anti-UFC agenda.
“I respect what you do and you do it very well… But me personally, I feel like when we come on your show. You try to use us as a weapon against the UFC,” Buckley told Helwani in April 2024. “[You] use your platform to set us up. Asking questions with fighters that [Helwani] already know that what we talk about could get us in trouble with [The UFC].”
NEW: Joaquin Buckley calls out Ariel Helwani for acting tough towards him online and using his platform to weaponize fighters against the UFC.
“I made a little joke on Instagram, and you told me, I don’t want that smoke.”
“.. With what you was getting mad about [I said]… pic.twitter.com/jFhed83enE
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) April 2, 2024
In a recent interview with Parry Punch, Buckley opened up the year-old wound, suggesting that Helwani may be overstaying his welcome in the MMA community.
“He’s just mad, he’s just mad ’cause I ain’t trying to be on the show,” Buckley said. “And eventually, ’cause you see the numbers, it’s doing terrible, bro, I ain’t gonna lie. I’ve been looking—I’ll be looking—I feel like the daily ain’t working. I feel like it’s too much of him. It was a couple days a week, so eventually, it’s just going to die. His show is just going to die eventually, bro.”
Ariel Helwani went toe-to-toe with Michael Bisping not long after the Buckley incident
Helwani was famously banned from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2016 after Dana White accused him of leaking news of Brock Lesnar’s surprise return to the Octagon at UFC 200.
Since then, Helwani has pulled no punches regarding his beef with the UFC CEO and fighters who have lobbed criticism toward him, all in the name of getting a gold star from White.
Just a few short weeks after his intense interview with Buckley, Helwani found himself in a war of words with fighter-turned-commentator Michael Bisping.
After Helwani broke the news that Conor McGregor was out of his previously scheduled UFC 303 headliner with Michael Chandler, ‘The Count’ went off on Helwani, accusing him of spreading rumors on social media in a feeble attempt to get clicks.
The next day, Helwani snapped back, calling Bisping a “former bad boy who became a boot licker.” Helwani even went so far as to take credit for Bisping’s middleweight title victory at UFC 199.
Helwani’s report about McGregor was also proven to be true, as the former two-division champion bowed out of his long-awaited comeback fight due to a broken pinky toe.
10-8 Helwani.
