According to a March 14 report from MMA Mania, tensions rose at the UFC 158 pre-fight press conference, and it wasn't because of the feud between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz.
The intense environment stemmed from a heated exchange between UFC President and MMA Fighting reporter Ariel Helwani, who seemed to disagree on what was an appropriate line of questioning for Nick Diaz.
White was visibly upset at Helwani, who grilled Diaz about his no-show at the UFC 158 open workouts.
Helwani opened by asking Diaz why he wasn't at the UFC 158 open workouts, and White interrupted before the fighter could provide an answer.
"Ariel, he's here. He's here now," White said. "You got any questions about the fight?"
White then questioned Helwani why it was part of a story.
"Of this fight," Helwani responded. "A lot of people are interested in watching this press conference to see if Nick was going to show up because he wasn't there yesterday."
White then guaranteed that Diaz will be present for the UFC 158 fight against St-Pierre.
"You wanted to antagonize him and you want to aggravate him and get him pissed off," White said to Helwani. "It's totally the truth. That's why I knew what your question was. I called it right when you picked up the microphone. You've never even asked questions first. You usually hang back and wait. Ooh, you had to get that first question. You knew what you wanted to ask him. You wanted to piss him off and aggravate him. Do you have any questions about the fight?"
Helwani responded that he didn't have any questions about the fight, at which time White said "okay, next please."
Diaz's no-show was obviously a sensitive topic for White and UFC brass, but it was a legitimate question for Helwani to ask.
Should MMA journalists solely ask questions about a fight, or is the gossipy angle perfectly acceptable? White giving the "next" treatment to Helwani shows that the UFC is cracking down on the gossip angle from MMA writers, and trying to place the focus back on the fights.
Comments