Biography: Ariel Helwani is a mixed martial arts (MMA) reporter. The award-winning MMA journalist joined ESPN in June 2018 to cover the sport. Helwani joined ESPN from SB Nation’s MMAFighting.com. He has been covering MMA professionally since 2006, is an eight-time winner of “MMA Journalist of the Year” at the World MMA Awards and a previous contributor to MMA coverage for Fox Sports and NBC Sports. Born in Montreal, Canada, he is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.