Brent Axe chats with Ariel Helwani, the most prominent, award-winning journalist who covers mixed martial arts. Helwani hosts The MMA Hour and The Ringer MMA Show and has worked for ESPN and Fox Sports.

Brent and Ariel discuss his path to Syracuse University and how he forged his career covering MMA while at SU. Helwani gives an honest account of his time at SU, which included some social anxiety and crippling homesickness. Helwani discusses how he has overcomne clashes with UFC President Dana White, which got him fired from Fox and removed from a major pay-per-view, to maintain a strong audience who trusts his reporting.

Axe and Helwani also discuss the Connor McGregor-Michael Chandler fight being cancelled and what UFC will do in response, when Jon Jones will return to fight and if MMA will ever host an event in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Our Syracuse Sports Insiders helped shape the conversation of this podcast with their great questions and opinions. 

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