The pair go back a way and the respect is mutual.
Back in February 2013, Ariel Helwani interviewed Conor McGregor on his show, The MMA Hour, for the first time. McGregor was still ‘The Notorious’ but mere thousands, rather than millions, were familiar with him. His open lines were typical of the man and his laid-back style.
“Conas atá tú? How are you mate?”
Four and a half years on and both McGregor and Helwani have prospered. However, it was at a low moment for the Canadian, last week, that McGregor showed some real class.
Aside from hosting his weekly show, and The MMA Beat, Helwani writes for MMA Fighting. He was then asked by Showtime to work for them on the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour – presenting coverage in Los Angeles and doing the introductory honours in Toronto.
All those plans changed suddenly on Tuesday, July 11, just hours before the first event in L.A. Helwani was called to meet Showtime chief executive Stephen Espinoza and event producer Bryan Daly in a downtown Los Angeles hotel. He commented:
“We get right to it and they said on Monday night, [UFC president] Dana White got word that I was going to be part of the coverage. He threw a fit and said, ‘Absolutely not. He can’t be a part of it. He’s the only guy that I don’t want to be a part of it. No, no, no, no, no’.
“They told me that they fought for me on Monday night, they fought for me Tuesday morning, but he just would not budge. He didn’t want me to be part of it at all.
“They said, ‘We’re in a partnership here. Conor is a UFC fighter, things are going particularly well [and] we have to pick our battles, essentially, and this is one we cannot win’.”
Helwani admitted he was gutted and devastated by the news but, as he was already in Los Angeles, he vowed to stay on and work with MMA Fighting at the L.A event. Espinoza gave him his blessing to tweet about the incident and, over two posts, Helwani did so.
He arrived at the Staples Center [sic] well in advance of the show and took up a position close to the stage. McGregor was first on-stage and he soaked up the atmosphere for almost five minutes before Mayweather made his way down.
Credit: Showtime/UFCThe long-time MMA reporter got word from McGregor’s camp that he was not pleased at what had happened to him.
Helwani spoke glowingly about the two gestures the Dubliner then paid him over the next hour. He said:
“I appreciate Conor, who I was told had heard about it and was upset, when he sat down on stage he saw me and gave me a thumbs up.
“When he saw me in the back, clearly he gave me some [one-on-one interview] time. He didn’t have to do that and that definitely meant a lot to me.”
Amid all the pageantry and chaos of that Los Angeles event – where McGregor did not have the easiest of times – the fact that he still went out of his way, not once but twice, to look out for a man he respects says a lot for him.
You can McGregor light up when, amid the back-stage media scrum, he sees Helwani.
Credit: MMA Fighting“Ariel, how are you brother? Alright? Good man.”
Helwani spoke with McGregor again in Toronto, as part of a media line, but he got almost 10 minutes alone with him on the Brooklyn leg, after all the “Zoolander” madness.
Small gestures but they meant a lot.
