UFC President Dana White has verbally gone after ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani for years and continued that trend recently.
After former MMA star, Gina Carano was fired by Disney and removed from her role on their Star Wars series 'The Mandalorian' due to controversial social media posts, Helwani posted to Instagram to give his take on the situation and recent comments made by Carano.
Well, White clearly had heard about or seen the video Helwani posted and responded with the following after the UFC 258 weigh-in, criticizing the comments made by Helwani a man of Jewish heritage, and defending Carano.
“Leave Gina alone,” White said (h/t MMAJunkie). “Listen, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. For everybody to go in on her – I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him. It was all about him. Such a douche.”
The worldwide leader in sports released a statement on the situation and comments made by White, saying the following to The New York Post in support of Helwani.
“Ariel is a valued colleague and an exceptional MMA reporter. His record speaks for itself."
Several of Helwani's colleagues at ESPN also showed their support for the reporter via social media.
A number of @arielhelwani’s ESPN colleagues are defending him publicly. pic.twitter.com/batoeidLfk
— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) February 14, 2021
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