Luke Thomas does an entire video throwing shade at Helwani, basically callling him a Conor shill

Hes a bit of an idiot. Hes totally spot on about McGregor interview. He needs to be his own " journalist " - hes part of mma media whether he likes or not and makes a living doing it. Be a man and do your thing- hes knowledgeable to a decent degree and speak his mind. He'll get his interviews with some and not with others .
Be true to yourself and hed be surprised .
Those are my cliffs.

If I got my own pod- itd be all about sports gambling/ and mma. I'd tell it like it is but be respectful about it. I d give zero fucks whoever I'm interviewing ( but respectful).
 
I don't give a shit about fighters personal lives, fuck off Luck Thomas you twat.
 
He’s right but we all know he’d bow down if McGregor blessed him with a Interview.
 
Luke has never been liked by many fighters and mma people which is why he has problems. 2. Sports journalism has always been part PR. 3. Not allowed questions are part of the game everywhere. 4 Ariel has done so many heated interviews and stepped on so many toes,hes almost finished his career a few times. 5 But hes hasnt,which means its not as unforgiving so hes wrong here too. 6. Luke left mma hour cause nobody liked him and you could cut the tension with a knife on mma beat and not because of what he tries to make people believe.
All in all hes the kind of guy who will always feel superiour and entitled and will jealously gaze upon ppl above in his profession but lack of inteligence or wisdom will preclude him from reaching such positions. Ergo, miserable and forever jaded blaming others Luke.

p.s. MMA journalism is definitely a very challeging and unfair prof. but so are many and most of Lukes problems are due to his persona.
 
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Ariel hinted that he wasn't happy Luke was given MMA Hour. I guess that confirms it.
 
Basically bringing “Pardon the Interruption” level stupidity to MMA.

Ummm, ok... You do realize PTI has won a ton of awards and Wilbon/Kornheiser are easily 2 of the most respected and intelligent journalists in the game, right? They are totally respected by their peers and the athletes.
 
@Verace thanks for sharing this video. IMO it hits the nail on the head. Most mma 'journalism' of the likes done by ESPN is canned marketing.
 
@Phisher well... threads got merged.

Mind if i add your cliffs to the OP and credit you? They were very well done but now hidden in the third page
 
I'm tired of Luke's voice when it's not doing analysis of a fight. He talks so much and yet says so little. Maybe the purpose of an interview is to let the fans hear their favourite fighters talk about their careers. Ariel pushed the outside octagon questions pretty far, but are we looking to hear Conor talk about his crimes or what the hell is going on in his mma mind. We're mma fans, not a gossip blog.
 


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He doesnt mention ariels name, but its pretty obvious who he is talking about

Some bits from the youtube comments section:

bs18201
"Whatever you do don’t say Ariel Helwani"

Benjamin Young1
So much shade thrown at Ariel it’s hilarious

Mackenson Sparks1
The burial of Ariel helwani begins

sdfbf1
we all know Ariel Helwani will bow down and thank his lord Conor every time he is granted an interview with his king and idol, no matter what bad deeds he does

Breno Girafa1
that's honest af. Ariel's interview was completely vanilla.

<This7>

Cliffs by @Phisher


MMA journalism
  • Stopped calling himself a "journalist" recently because he realizes that it's a totally dishonest description of what he does.
    • Says the fact that he ever called himself one is a "personal failing" and apologizes for having done so.
  • Most MMA "interviews" including press scrums are fake.
    • Luke has cut back on doing interviews because it's almost impossible to do a tough interview without losing access.
    • To get continued access to MMA figures (even minor ones) you have to play a game where you never really harshly criticize them in public to the point of dishonesty about what's going on in the sport.
    • Has had fighters refuse to do interviews with him over extremely mild criticism: i.e. saying that a fighter had "bad cardio" after a fight where he gassed out.
  • The sport isn't big or relevant enough for proper journalism.
    • There's no mandated media outside of promotional pressers, so the fighters have every right to shut out people that they don't like.
  • Says that in order to be an honest actor in the MMA media sphere, you have to make a decision about whether you want to do interviews or real commentary on the sport.
    • To do the latter effectively, you're going to have to speak in a manner that will lose you access to most fighters/manager/trainers etc.
    • This was one of the reasons why he bailed on The MMA Hour.
  • Has refocused his radio show to doing interviews with actual sports journalists instead of fighters/managers.
    • Thinks that it's much easier to have honest conversations with boxing people. This is one of the reasons that he's ventured into boxing coverage.
  • As a media figure, he's done playing the game trying to appease people. Doesn't care if people in the industry hate what he says.
  • The MMA Journalists Association is a joke organization.
    • Doesn't address wide scale structural problems in MMA media.
    • Is not in a position to actually do anything for its members.

McGregor ESPN interview
  • Not much of substance besides the news about the Gaethje fight and his hand issue.
  • Apology was just PR.
    • If McGregor wants to change perceptions, he should stop acting like an idiot in public.
  • McGregor is good for the sport when his head is on straight.
  • Says it was ridiculous that the topic of the New York Times story about the rape investigation was not broached.
    • Acknowledges that this is a legal landmine for McGregor and that he can't go into detail about this stuff even if he is innocent, but says that's McGregor's issue to deal with.
    • The interviewer had a responsibility to his audience ask McGregor about a story that ran in one of the biggest newspapers on the planet.
    • Acknowledges that this likely would have been the last interview that Ariel ever did with McGregor if this question would have been asked.
    • However, maintains that it is the responsibility of a real journalist to raise the issue of McGregor's escalating pattern of anti-social behavior.
  • The interview was essentially just PR for McGregor.
  • Says that the same level of scrutiny that Greg Hardy gets about his past should be applied to everybody.
    • i.e. Khabib should be getting tough questions about his association with Kadyrov.


Man ... Luke is acting like he is revealing some huge secret. Plus, Ariel works for ESPN who's directly invested in the UFC ... dafuq he expects ? Of course they asked him not to ask about the rape charge. And frankly, I don't think many people really cared to hear about that. Most fans just really wanted to know about the video of him punching the old man and when is he getting back.
 
Luke takes pleasure in watching his wife take bbc.
 
LOL at Luke Thomas thinking MMA journalists are significantly different than sports journalists generally.

All of them are a bunch of jock riding dick suckers who whore themselves for access. MMA journalists are just dumber and uglier.

Journalists everywhere kiss ass for access. Every single one is a shill. If they're critical of someone, it's because someone on the other side is incentivizing them to do so.

Thomas is either completely dishonest or the most naive idiot in the media for acting like there is some other group of people out there acting in an ethical manner

Journalists are garbage. Sports journalists are the garbage juice in the bottom of the dumpster. MMA journalists are the maggots wiggling around in the juice.
 
The Journalist's Creed
- I believe in the profession of journalism.
- I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.
- I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
- I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
- I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
- I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
- I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.
- I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.
 
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