SUMMARY
- On February 1, 2024, Dustin Poreira tweeted that his fight against Benoit Saint-Denis had been canceled.
- Ariel Helwani recently tweeted his opinion on the ongoing Poirier-Benoit saga.
With UFC 299 less than 2 months away, Dustin Poirier recently hit MMA fans with a wave of sadness before making them happy again. Renowned sports journalist Ariel Helwani recently gave his thoughts on why he thinks Poirier did what he did. The Canadian-American journalist tweeted his opinion on the ongoing saga about the Poirier vs. Saint-Denis fight at UFC 299.
According to the 41-year-old, Dustin Poirier’s tweet on February 1, which read, “My fights off but still working.” was nothing but a way to secure a better bag. This tweet by Poirier was met with the disbelief of fans around the world. Furthermore, the story went haywire as tweets and reports from Benoit Saint-Denis‘s camp found their way to X.
Later on, Benoit himself tweeted, “(translated from French) Guys, stay calm, stay focused. I count the days until @ufc 299”. This tweet, followed by the confirmation that the fight was still on from Dustin himself, reassured fans. However, it needs to be noted that Dustin reasoned that he wasn’t in contact with his manager and that it was all a misunderstanding.
View this post on Instagram
With all this now seemingly in the past and not consequential to UFC 299, what did Ariel Helwani have to say about this?
Ariel Helwani claims Dustin Poirier did the announcement to get a better deal
Ariel Helwani took to X(fka Twitter) to share his thoughts behind Dustin Poirier’s tweet suggesting the fight against Saint-Denis has been canceled. Helwani has been on Dana White’s case for some time now. He previously retweeted a tweet criticizing Dana White by himself, saying, “This is 100% factual”.
Ariel Helwani said in a tweet, “No. Dustin finally going public got him what he wanted. That’s the biz. Good on him. Doesn’t change the fact that up until an hour ago he didn’t agree – remember he broke this story, no one else – and when this was announced almost a month ago he hadn’t agreed”.
No. Dustin finally going public got him what he wanted. That’s the biz. Good on him.
Doesn’t change the fact that up until an hour ago he didn’t agree – remember he broke this story, no one else – and when this was announced almost a month ago he hadn’t agreed. No one is… https://t.co/XU5mzZNDKb
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 1, 2024
Ariel further added, “No one is denying that BSD agreed, which his team has confirmed. (And this isn’t the only fight that falls under this umbrella …)” Before this tweet, Ariel claimed that he reached out to Poirier regarding the matter and got the response, “There was no contractual agreement before the fight was announced and we couldn’t come to terms”.
Needless to say, it all seems a bit sketchy from all sides, and fans were quick to point out Ariel Helwani’s eagerness to go against Dana White in the comment section. One fan posted a picture of White’s Instagram story where he publicly criticized journalists in general. And also one journalist in particular.
Dana White is unhappy with Dustin Poirier’s situation
With journalists criticizing UFC CEO Dana White after the Dustin Poirier fight cancellation rumors, it was only a matter of time before some of them got caught in Dana’s retaliation. Dana White sort of had a last laugh at the end of last night’s fiasco regarding the Poirier vs. Saint-Denis fight.
He cooked you pic.twitter.com/cn3i7lfoo1
— 𝐀𝐥𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐭 🎒 (@aljoisthegoat) February 1, 2024
Renowned Brazilian sports journalist Guilherme Cruz released a video of Benoit’s coach telling him weeks before that they had no idea about the Poirier fight when it got announced. This tweet was followed by another criticizing Dana White.
It said, “Vicente Luque vs. Sean Brady, and now Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis. Two days in a row where fights announced by Dana White are now off because… well, they were never really a done deal.” While the authenticity of these claims cannot be gauged, it sure hit his mark and made Dana angry to a certain extent.
Once the dust settled around the whole confusion after Poirier’s tweet accepting the misunderstanding, Dana White took to Instagram to lash out at Guilherme Cruz. In a story he posted, Dana said, “Hey Guilherme Cruz go f*ck ur self sc*mbag”.
@danawhite owning one of your own again.. night night 😴 pic.twitter.com/WtAZ1yUTcc
— ©️ (@El_Lefty12) February 1, 2024
The story included a screenshot of Dana’s chats with Benoit, which clearly rebuked whatever statements Cruz had previously made about Benoit’s camp being unaware of the fight against Poirier being scheduled. This was followed by another story that said, “You media guys are such pieces of sh*t. Writing whatever clickbait u can to be first and not right. This is why NOBODY trusts or likes you”.
It seems as if Dana White certainly had the last laugh. But fans would still hope there are no sudden change of plans in 2024’s UFC schedule.