UFC 162: 'Silva vs Weidman'

[wandshogun09]

whilst wearing a Team Serra-Longo condom.

 

Where do you get these? Do you get them free if you buy so much pasta?

 

Journalists are meant to be unbiased and present things on an even playing field but the man crush he has on him is baffling, Bisping had it spot on.

 

Helwani has gone shit since becoming a UFC yes man.

 

Yeah, I've said before that I think Ariel has gone a bit shitter since landing the UFC gig. I still love the MMA Hour and I always check out his interviews, but he seemed more likable to me before he 'made it big'. There's times now where I get the impression he thinks he's the star of his interviews which should never be the case.

[lambyUK]

Here's the Serra story http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/6/25/44623...itle-challenger

 

The only thing in my mind I can liken them too is shields after his Dad died, he just wasn't himself as his most depended on voice in his ear not there, I think it will really knock his confidence it shouldn't be underestimated just how much Serra makes up Weidmans game.

 

Thanks for that Snake. I think Weidman should be ok with his Dad probably providing a calming influence that Serra probably brought. With the addition of Danaher as well, his cornermen are looking good.

[Guy Bifkin]

The champ is here!

 

 

Was actually on the same internal flight as Rafaello Oliveira, a fact unfortunately lost on me until I saw the UFC guys pick him up at the airport. I can tell you now, his beard looks in fine shape. I will post more exclusives, as I get them.

[wandshogun09]

Ha, that picture is quality! I'll look forward to the next installment. Have a good time.

[herbie747]

whilst wearing a Team Serra-Longo condom.

 

Where do you get these? Do you get them free if you buy so much pasta?

 

Journalists are meant to be unbiased and present things on an even playing field but the man crush he has on him is baffling, Bisping had it spot on.

 

Helwani has gone shit since becoming a UFC yes man.

 

Yeah, I've said before that I think Ariel has gone a bit shitter since landing the UFC gig. I still love the MMA Hour and I always check out his interviews, but he seemed more likable to me before he 'made it big'. There's times now where I get the impression he thinks he's the star of his interviews which should never be the case.

 

His Seagal nuthugging is more annoying - although most of it I realise is tongue in cheek (namely calling him "Sensei" all the time); but I don't know why he even humours this pretentious clown. Can't fucking stand Seagal.

[lambyUK]

whilst wearing a Team Serra-Longo condom.

 

Where do you get these? Do you get them free if you buy so much pasta?

 

Journalists are meant to be unbiased and present things on an even playing field but the man crush he has on him is baffling, Bisping had it spot on.

 

Helwani has gone shit since becoming a UFC yes man.

 

Yeah, I've said before that I think Ariel has gone a bit shitter since landing the UFC gig. I still love the MMA Hour and I always check out his interviews, but he seemed more likable to me before he 'made it big'. There's times now where I get the impression he thinks he's the star of his interviews which should never be the case.

 

I got to admit, Ariel is becoming a bit unbearable. He's ridiculously over-exposed and is buying into his own fame. I remember watching this short little interview piece on him where he was the one who interviewed and he came across as a bit of a tool.

 

He was basically saying his goal was to be THE MMA journalist and wanted to compare himself with some great baseball commentator/journalist who was around in the 70s/80s. It's fine expecting this from yourself in private, but it was the way he came across made him sound like he wanted to be in the spotlight just as much as the fighters.

 

On top of that the ridiculous Helwani Nose T-shirts and fucking ridiculous trainers. Starting with the T-shirts, I understand the proceeds go to charity, but it's the ego into thinking that he's a big enough celeb to warrant a T-shirt to begin with. Then there's the trainers. Again, a dickish thing to wear as it brings the attention on him during interviews when should be all about the fighters.

 

Edit:- Yeah, and as Herbie says, despite the tongue in cheek of it, his Seagal shit is ridiculous.

[wandshogun09]

People interview Helwani? Why? Interviewing the inteverviewer seems a bit backwards to me.

 

Don't get me wrong, there's stuff he does which I like and his familiarity with the fighters usually brings more out of them (or pisses them off in some cases). He's good at what he does as well. Someone on here (Jim I think) compared him to Louis Theroux with how he plays the unassuming, likeable nerd but is always shit-stirring. I think that's spot on.

 

Like you say, it does seem to have shifted a bit over the last year or two to where he seems to think he's the star of the show. He's even got a 'gimmick' now with the mongy shoes. I don't know why a journalist needs one or needs to be noticed that much. I mean look at these;

 

 

I remember an interview he did with BJ Penn a while ago where Ariel told a story about seeing Penn before a fight once, Penn was driving past him somewhere and shouted to Ariel 'look it's the Howard Cosell of MMA.' And Ariel kept harping on it to the point BJ looked like he was thinking 'alright shut up now you twat.' Bare in mind this interview was just days before BJ was going to fight, yet Ariel had to turn it around onto himself and let everyone know how highly Penn rated him. He seems to make things about himself quite a bit in interviews. Like the Bisping one (I think this was before UFC 152), where he made a point of making the interview all about how Bisping was ripping him for his "mancrush" on Chris Weidman.

 

Or he starts interviews off with fighters he perceives to have 'heat' with by saying stuff like - "I heard we have beef. Have I done something to offend you?" Half the time it's something of nothing and just Ariel being thin skinned but he still feels the need to make himself the focal point when the fighter is cutting weight, grumpy and no doubt not in the mood for Ariel's easily hurt feelings and shit trainers.

[jimufctna24]

It was me who did the Theroux and Helwani comparison.

 

The only difference is now, is that Helwani is so far in the UFC's pocket and so established in MMA circles, that fighters are more or less obliged to be interviewed by him. Theroux I reckon had to stop doing his celebrity specials as he would make the celebrities look bad, and with that in mind other celebs would not agree to be interviewed or covered by him again.

 

Helwani puts fighters in a tough spot, I would say he is the main media source of MMA these days, he is big on Twitter, MMA Fighting I bet gets more or at least the same traffic as Sherdog and Junkie and he has MMA Hour as well. If a fighter goes against him and refuses a interview, Helwani can mention it on his Twitter or MMA Hour. I swear he has done that before as well.

 

The word "obliged" I used above is key, as fighters are obliged to tow the line in interviews and put up with his antics as well. Rampage came across as a prize knob when he started on Helwani in that interview, and fighters must be concerned if they show that Helwani's questions have annoyed them it will be not good for their public image. Tito Ortiz and Dominik Cruz have fell foul to this and have had legions of fans call them every name under the sun in comments made about videos of them clashing with Helwani on YouTube.

 

He is less subtle these days, if you watch the Anderson interview up on his site almost every question is a tough or challenging question. When Helwani starts with "your peers are picking against you" you know he has no scruples about what he is asking.

 

Helwani has reached a point where he is still a unassuming presence like Theroux, just with more power. These days he interviews much like another documentary maker in Michael Moore, he just steam rolls the fighters with tough questions, but unlike Moore he is safe in the knowledge it will be the interview subject who is judged for their interaction and not himself for his line of questioning.

[lambyUK]

People interview Helwani? Why? Interviewing the inteverviewer seems a bit backwards to me.

 

Here is the video I was talking about

 

http://fightland.vice.com/fightland-meets/ariel-helwani

[jimufctna24]

Helwani pops up on other MMA sites as well as a guest.

 

Helwani I would say is a bigger star than 80 percent of the UFC's roster.

[wandshogun09]

He's definitely more recognizable than a good bulk of the prelimers but that comes with the territory. That's fair enough. To be fair to the bloke, I didn't think he came across too badly in that video Lamby posted. The only part where he seemed a bit of a knob was when he said something like - "when I first started covering MMA, I wasn't credentialed by the UFC so I couldn't get into their shows. So I had to go to Strikeforce and EliteXC and places like that." Christ. He said himself he'd just broke in. Why did he expect it all to fall in his lap on day one? And the way he emphasized Strikeforce like it was beneath him kind of made him sound a cock. But whatever, it's nitpicking. It wasn't a bad little piece, even if I find it a bit pretentious.

[lambyUK]

He's definitely more recognizable than a good bulk of the prelimers but that comes with the territory. That's fair enough. To be fair to the bloke, I didn't think he came across too badly in that video Lamby posted. The only part where he seemed a bit of a knob was when he said something like - "when I first started covering MMA, I wasn't credentialed by the UFC so I couldn't get into their shows. So I had to go to Strikeforce and EliteXC and places like that." Christ. He said himself he'd just broke in. Why did he expect it all to fall in his lap on day one? And the way he emphasized Strikeforce like it was beneath him kind of made him sound a cock. But whatever, it's nitpicking. It wasn't a bad little piece, even if I find it a bit pretentious.

 

My rant wasn't really in relation to that video. As with you there's just a couple things about that pissed me off that I highlighted before. However, it's more to do with the fact that it was made in the first place and how Helwani's star has progressed passed the point where it really shouldn't go.

[jimufctna24]

I actually quite like Helwani as a person, just observing the landscape.

 

A point was made a few years back though by Jeff Sherwood from Sherdog, if Helwani gets in bed a little too much with Dana it may hurt his objectivity. Dana is not opposed to strong arming media sources if they go against his agenda, but Dana does seem to give Helwani more rope than others. I will leave it up to others speculate as to why, the obvious opinion that has been stated is that Ariel keeps it clean when giving his opinions on the UFC (Hence that heated back and forth Helwani had with Pat Militech a while back)

 

Ariel's status does not bother me much, out of other MMA journos I only prefer Jordan Breen from Sherdog. I do not watch MMA Hour anymore and only visit his site for interviews before major shows (like the ones this weekend) Anik and Rogan annoy me more these days as I have to listen to them when watching UFC programming. Its a matter of who I am exposed to I guess.

[wandshogun09]

Dana White on the middleweight division and whether Vitor Belfort deserves the next shot;

 

"He's looked great, but the hard position that Vitor is in is when you talk about a rematch for him, it's like, [silva] kicked him in the face in the first 60 seconds in one of the most devestating knockouts of all-time," he said. "So when you go back to Anderson Silva, who's in the twilight of his career, and you say to a guy like Anderson, 'Eh, what about Vitor?' He'd say, 'I annihilated Vitor. I made it look like Vitor isn't even a fighter we should have been fighting.'"

 

Silva actually needed three minutes to finish that UFC 126 fight. However, after 90 seconds of inaction and then after eating a few punches, Silva unloaded a vicious front kick to the face that instantly sent Belfort to the canvas. White said that no matter what happens after a performance like that, it's tough to book a rematch, especially when so many other options are available for a kingpin like Silva.

 

"Those are tough fights to make," he said.

 

If Silva's 16-fight UFC win streak comes to an end in Saturday's pay-per-view headliner, he'll get an immediate rematch with Weidman. If victorious, he could very well end up fighting light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones or maybe welterweight titleholder Georges St-Pierre. White hasn't even closed the door on entertaining Silva's latest request: a boxing bout with Roy Jones Jr. (The boxer, in fact, will be one of White's guests at UFC 162, the executive said.)

 

Still, White doesn't want to completely shoot down the possibility of Silva vs. Belfort II.

 

"I'm not saying that's the case," he said. "I'm not saying Vitor couldn't get the next shot or couldn't get a shot soon, but if you're Anderson Silva, you're like, 'I'm looking for another challenge. I want to fight GSP. I want to fight Jon Jones or somebody different than Vitor Belfort.'

 

"You could make a better argument that Dan Henderson should get another shot."

 

What the fuck?! Dan Henderson? The same Dan Henderson who lost his last two fights, hasn't fought at 185 in over 3 years (in which he also lost to Jake Shields) and who has also lost to Anderson? How can you make a better argument for him over Belfort? I'm a huge fan of Hendo but come on.

 

Yeah, Belfort got embarrassed by Anderson. He's more than earned his rematch. He knocked out Bisping (who was being lined up for a title shot if he won). Then he did a spin kick KO on Luke Rockhold, the Strikeforce champ and top UFC contender, in round 1. He knocks out 2 top contenders back to back, hasn't lost at 185 since 2010 when Anderson beat him, yet he still doesn't get the shot?

 

Who deserves it more at 185 than Belfort? If Weidman wins Saturday, fair enough, Anderson deserves his rematch. But if Anderson wins, who is ahead of Belfort at 185? Don't tell me Bisping is one win away again.

 

Now I'm reading that Rockhold wants a "contenders fight" on the Cain vs JDS 3 PPV. Eh? Contender? He just got spin kicked into oblivion in the first round. Why would he be in a contender fight next?

[jimufctna24]

""You could make a better argument that Dan Henderson should get another shot."

 

 

He is either an idiot or trolling.