Access journalism in MMA relies on maintaining access to stars. This has been an effective route UFC has used to curtail the media and make sure that nobody steps over the line. This, of course, means that majority of the media mostly does press releases as opposed to actual reporting.
Dominance MMA owner Ali Abdelaziz initially banned ESPN from accessing stars he manages in response to a dispute with journalist Ariel Helwani.
This was in response to Helwani criticizing the UFC’s welterweight title picture and suggested a number one contender was Leon Edwards (over Gilbert Burns).
Dominance MMA manages a significant group of UFC stars, including legends like Khabib Nurmagomedov and stars like Kamaru Usman, Justin Gaethje, Kayla Harrison, Henry Cejudo and many others.
Thus far, Kayla Harrsion was the only person from that team that hasn’t obeyed Abdelaziz. She appeared on the MMA Hour several times.
Several days ago rumors of Beneil Dariush and Dustin Poirier clash started circling.
There has been talk of a potential matchup between Beneil Dariush and Dustin Poirier ever since Charles Oliveira withdrew from his bout against Dariush at UFC 288.
Dariush has expressed interest in facing Poirier even before his bout against Mateusz Gamrot last year. However, the bout against Oliveira has reportedly been rescheduled to the UFC 289 pay-per-view in Vancouver, Canada, leaving UFC 288 without a co-headliner.
MMA reporter Ariel Helwani suggested on Twitter that the UFC should book Dariush versus Poirier as the co-main event for UFC 288.
Dariush responded by saying that he had repeatedly requested it but was turned down, and that Poirier was not interested in the matchup. Helwani clarified that his suggestion was not an official report, and the pair cleared up the situation as a miscommunication.
Helwani put Dariush on blast during a recent edition of the MMA hour and elaborated:
“If you’re going to listen to your manager about not talking to me and not coming to my show, do me a favor. Don’t tweet me. All right, don’t be like this. Don’t. Don’t tweet me. If you’re not going to come on the show and engage and have a good time and talk and do that. Don’t be me. Don’t do the quote tweet because I don’t know if it’s you.”