Ariel Helwani responds to the latest accusations from UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett

Ariel Helwani is responding to the latest accusations from UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett.

It was last Saturday, December 10th at UFC 282 that saw Paddy Pimblett (20-3 MMA) defeat Jared Gordon (19-6 MMA) in the co-main lightweight bout. It was a controversial decision win for the Liverpudlian which extended his undefeated record to 4-0 within the promotion.

Prior to the bout, Paddy Pimblett invited UFC President Dana White to his podcast, ‘Chattin Pony’, and the two of them took aim at long time MMA reporter Ariel Helwani. During the podcast the 40 year old Canadian was labeled a ‘rodent’ who’s been fired from ‘every good job he’s ever had’. It was also implied that the journalist profits from fighter interviews.

It has been no secret that Dana White is not a fan of Helwani and has in the past tried to have him removed from ESPN.

Helwani took issue with the podcast and defended himself pointing out the inaccuracies and providing evidence to dispute claims made by both White and Pimblett.

Paddy Pimblett has since doubled down on the same accusations in his post-fight interview at UFC 282.

Well apparently the saga is continuing and Helwani is wanting to set the record straight.

In speaking on ‘The MMA Hour’, the 40 year old Helwani had this to say:

“In the spirit of not letting the bullies win… not letting the lies prevail, letting the truth prevail, I do feel there are a few things I need to address. On the Thursday afterwards, the next day… Paddy did a couple other interviews… I just didn’t like that he was doubling and tripling down on the lies. He continued to lie. He continued to double and triple down on what he said, which I had proved quite extensively was not the truth.”

Continuing Helwani said he has never asked the fighter to drop anything to appear on his show, paid or otherwise (h/t MMANews):

“That’s not true. I never asked him to drop anything that was paid or not paid. I never asked them to cancel anything. I was just trying to find my spot after, again, they reached out to me. I have never told someone to drop an interview to go on my show.”

“What are we doing now? You’re lying, I’m lying. One guy showed facts, had receipts, had everything to back it up, and the other guy didn’t. He got his timelines wrong, made up stuff… what are we doing here?”

Speaking of Pimblett’s team addressing the controversy after the fight, Helwani said:

“They said they’re gonna address it after the fight. I can’t wait. Where do we wanna go? Screen grab for screen grab? What are you gonna address? You’re gonna continue to make up stuff?. Can’t wait. I invite it. You do it on your channel, I’ll do it on my channel.”

Further clarifying the potential interview, Helwani stated:

“He didn’t say, ‘Have a drink,’ or anything on that voice memo either. What about when I came back and was like, ‘Wanna come in studio?’ None of them were like, ‘No, no, no, we’re not talking about an interview, we’re just hanging out.’ Did they want me to put together a budget for a dinner date? Everything we spoke about was for an interview.”

Pimblett did accuse the Canadian journalist of requesting that he abandon a paid interview in order to be featured on his show instead. Helwani claims that was an outright lie.

Helwani advised Pimblett is playing the ‘victim’ card:

“He’s trying to do the old, ‘I’m the victim here,’ even though they brought it up, they started it, they’re the ones that talked about private conversations. I’m the victim here, I was stabbed in the back, he’s the bad guy,’ when in reality, I’ve never said anything bad about him publicly.”

“This whole thing of him trying to make himself out to be the victim… I hate to say it, it’s a little bit sad. It’s disappointing. Why don’t we just let this die? … How much more can I show? How much more can I prove?” 

Stay tuned. Pimblett and his entourage are sure to have a response.

What do you think of the interchange between Pimblett and Helwani? And do you think Dana White should have weighed in?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!