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#2 Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones
UFC 232 was initially set to take place in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for the promotion, the Nevada State Athletic Commission picked up a positive drug test from card-headliner Jon Jones.
Refusing to grant Jones a competing license for the state of Nevada, the whole show was uprooted and moved to California.
In a press conference to promote his main event bout with Alexander Gustafsson, Jones was given the third degree from Swedish reporter Izabelle Kostic.
Jones initially dismissed a question regarding his positive drug test. Kostic than moved it over to Dana White, asking why the fight was still happening at all. Acknowledging that such drug tests normally lead to suspensions, Kostic asked White why Jones was seemingly receiving such special treatment.
Enraged, Jones asked the already seated Kostic to sit down before saying:
“Someone take the mic from her. Better questions. Better journalism. You suck. Have you been listening?”
#1 Former UFC welterweight fighter Nick Diaz
During his time as Strikeforce’s welterweight kingpin, the endlessly quotable Nick Diaz had some pretty choice words for Ariel Helwani. Helwani interviewed the karate master ahead of his Strikeforce welterweight title defense against Paul Daley in April 2011.
Diaz was quick to express his disdain for Helwani’s style of reporting, even accusing him of instigating fights. From there, Diaz uttered one of his most (in)famous comments:
“Where I come from, you know, people like that get slapped.”
Diaz’s words might have seemed unnecessarily harsh on Helwani at that point. The interview had only just started and Helwani was being perfectly respectful to the Stockton tough guy. That being said, Diaz touched on a criticism that has followed Helwani throughout his illustrious career as an MMA reporter.
Despite his reputation for being one of, if not the greatest MMA reporter of all time, Helwani’s methods have drawn the ire of several fighters. UFC welterweight Mickey Gall also called him out for it in a more light-hearted fashion in 2017 on episode 401 of The MMA Hour.
Despite the uncomfortable start - and some additional needling from Diaz about Helwani’s coverage of his fight with Daley - the interview continued without a hitch. Diaz’s comments have frequently been referenced in the years since. It appears there’s not too much bad blood between them given Diaz gave his first interview in years to Helwani in 2019.
