In an interview with “The Hawk Cast,” MMA journalist Ariel Helwani gave his opinion on the current standing of the UFC, with new owners’ in tow.
In the interview, Helwani explained why he loves covering the UFC, as compared to basketball or football.
“I love those sports, but sometimes it’s a little too buttoned up. I love how there are so many different personalities, characters that haven’t been packaged by PR people telling them what to say”
Helwani continued, “The thing I love most about covering the sport isn’t necessarily the fights, it’s the fighters.”
Helwani also provided some ideas on the current direction of the sport. UFC was purchased by WME-IMG last year for over $4 billion.
He said, “It remains to be seen. But it is, I think, going in a troubling direction. It’s important to note that the Reebok deal was struck before WME bought them. But, that was kind of the beginning of it all.”
“Alot of these fighters have unique looks and they have taken that away, but I don’t like the fact that they all look the same. A, for the casual fan, it is a lot harder to distinguish them. It’s harder to get emotionally invested in these people if they all look the same. The fighters themselves, allot of them draw inspiration.” He said. “I mean I understand why they did it, to make money. But, I don’t like the fact that they did it.”
Helwani also mentioned that many of the top most popular fighters of the previous years seem to be leaving the sport. Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey andConor McGregor were some that were mentioned.
“Where’s the million dollar pay-per-view going to come from without these people?” He retorted.
Speaking about the previous operators of the league, Helwani explained
“I felt that the previous regime did a great job of kind of going back and forth, skirting that line between sport and entertainment. I think they did a really nice job of building the UFC into an actual sport when they bought it.” He said. “[Initially] It wasn’t viewed as a sport. It was more of a spectacle. I’m worried that they are going to undo some of that, so I would like to see them go back to respecting the rankings, having a meritocracy. The number one guy, no matter who he is, he fights for the belt.”
Continuing his thought, “The way they have been going over the past five or six months has been a little puzzling. And also, by the way, I would love to see them actually talk to the media about what their plans are.”
Helwani did have some positive things to say, on the other hand. The journalist explained that he believes that the common fan cares about belts, as well as individual fighters. “One thing that the UFC did very well, as apposed to boxing, was having just the right amount of weight classes.” He said.
Pointing out some potential issues with the current management of the league, Helwani noted
“I do think that it is important to go back to making the belt the most important thing. What’s happened is that I feel like they have kind of devalued the belt. But still, when the fighter does get the belt, they’re using it as this golden ticket to start calling their own shots. So they get the belt, they don’t defend it once and they think ‘Okay, I can do what Conor did. I can ask for money fights. I can want to fight the guy above me, even though it doesn’t really make sense.”
Talking about how some fighters may feel slighted by this new system, Helwani said
“They are directing their, for lack of a better word, anger towards the wrong people. Who they are really angry about are the previous owners, who made out like bandits; who got this amazing deal.”
The journalist also explained that he does not believe that you can “turn fighters into actors.” Some believe that the new owners will make movie deals more common among UFC fighters moving forward, Helwani doesn’t agree.
Leaving on a postivie note, Helwani explained that the PR team seems to be on the up and up.
“Dating back to when I first got into MMA reporting, the PR team from the UFC has been, for the most part, very adversarial towards the [media] and they have now put some people in place that…you know, we don’t have to be best friends. But, I’ve never understood why you would want to be enemies with us. They have been courteous and professional, gone out of their way to help and to really let us know that this is a new time and new regime.”
