Joaquin Buckley believes Ariel Helwani’s days are counted.
Last year, Buckley appeared MMA TimeHelwani was hosted before his split with MMA Fighting. During the segment, Buckley was torn apart by longtime combat sports journalists and accused him of trying to use the fighter jet as ammunition for his anti-UFC agenda.
“I respect what you’re doing and you’re doing it very well…but I personally try to use us when we come to your show. You try to use us as a weapon against the UFC,” Buckley told Helwani in April 2024.
In a recent interview with Parry Punch, Buckley opened up a wound from a year ago, suggesting that Helwani could be spending his welcome in the MMA community.
“He’s just mad, he’s just mad because I’m not trying to get into the show,” Buckley said. “And in the end, you look at the numbers and it’s doing awful, peer, I’m not going to lie. I’m watching – I’m watching – I feel like every day is not working. I feel like he has too many days.
Ariel Helwani went to the toe with Michael Bispin shortly after the Buckley incident
Helwani was famously banned from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2016 after accusing Dana White of leaking news of Brock Lesnar’s surprise return when he returned to the UFC 200 Octagon.
Since then, Helwani has not pulled punches about the UFC CEO and his beef that criticized him.
Just a few weeks after his intense interview with Buckley, Helwani was dressed in a war of words with fighter-turned-maintrator Michael Bispin.
After Helwani defeated the news that Conor McGregor had escaped from Michael Chandler’s headliner from the previously scheduled UFC 303 headliner, “Count” left for Helwani and accused him of spreading rumors on social media in a weak attempt to get clicks.
The next day, Helwani went back and called Bispin “a former bad boy who became a bootlicker.” Helwani even praised Bispin’s middleweight title victory at UFC 199.
Herwani’s report on McGregor has also proven true. The original two division champion resigned from the much-anticipated comeback fight due to his broken pinky toe.
10-8 times.