Ariel Helwani is a 35-year-old MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) journalist from Canada.
MMA is a full contact fighting sport that utilizes a mixture of techniques from other martial arts and combat arts that include boxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, sambo, kickboxing, kempo karate, muay thai, and grappling. You can click at blog.ideafit.com to learn more about Jiu Jitsu.
He has been working in the field since the year 2006. How much is the journalist worth today?
Early Life
Born on July 8, 1982, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he is a child of a Lebanese mother and Egyptian father. His family’s origin is Jewish. Ariel grew up in Mount Royal, Quebec and later moved to Westmount. He attended Akiva School and Herzliah High School. After growing up, he studied at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.
When it comes to his love life, he married his childhood sweetheart Jaclyn Stein. They have three kids and currently live in Brooklyn, New York.
Career, Awards & Achievement
As we mentioned, Ariel Helwani has worked in journalism as an MMA reporter since 2006. He is the face of MMA fighting in a lot of pre and post event programs that cover the sport. He was also the co-host of the radio show ‘Fight Club’ on Sirius XM, after which he was the host of ‘MMA beat show’ and ‘The MMA Hour Podcast’ on YouTube. He is also a member of the Mixed Martial Arts Journalists Association, where he serves as the interim vice president.
On June 4, 2016, he was removed from the UFC 199 event coverage, because he reported on the return of Brock Lesnar, the professional American wrestler, before UFC made it official. They stripped off his credentials and banned him for life from covering UFC events.
Another UFC commentator, Joe Rogan, said how Ariel was not supposed to reveal that information. He was instructed on it before the event. It is not believed that maybe amole was involved in the leaking of the big story to Ariel. He denied this on twitter some time later.
UFC president Dana White said that the ban will stand for as long as he is able to allow it to exist. He is able to cover the events, although with no credential. Later that June, he held an emotional broadcast about the big incident in an episode of ‘The MMA Hour’. He decided to remain an MMA journalist despite not getting credibility. On June 6, UFC cancelled his ban, and stated that media is very important for UFC. They also said that the two sides sorted everything out regarding the incident.
Awards and Achievements
• 7 x winner of the ‘MMA Journalist of the Year’ Award at World MMA Awards (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016)
• Named ‘the Howard Cosell of MMA’ by FIGHT! Magazine in 2011
Net Worth
His current net worth is estimated at nearly $6.5 million, his fortune is the result of the credibility and demand as an MMA journalist.
Ariel Helwani has a huge reputation and is considered one of the best experts in his line of work. Many think about him as the center of attention and a one-man show when MMA media is in question.
