Ali Abdelaziz is famous for his personal relationship with with his fighters. He shares a strong bond with jis athletes. Though he gets continuously reported in controversies, he is known for keeping his fighters happy. Not only that, he deems his fighters’ battle as his own and supports them incessantly.
Recently Ali Abdelaziz gave an another witness to the above fact when he tweeted and dropped a bomb of ESPN and TSN. He tweeted that he was banning them for their behaviour towards his fighters.
Though manager did not tell the exact reason behind this ban, there are speculations on Internet that the manager took this decision after ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani said that Gilbert Burns should fight with Leon Edwards before fighting for the upcoming welterweight championship.
There can be some amount of truth behind these speculations as Burns was supposed to fight Kumaru Usman at UFC 251. But the fight did not take place after Burns was tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Besides, Ali complimented other ESPN reporters except Helwani which also makes the fact more relevant.
Along with ESPN he also banned the Canadian sports channel, ‘ The Sports Network’ (TSN) without citing any reason.
Although it seems now that Ali was triggered because of Helwani, he himself didn’t mention any name in his tweet. Besides, he also didn’t said that whether the ban was permanent or temporary.
Though it seems like Helwani triggered Ali, the manager did not specify any names. He did not even state the reason. It is not clear whether the ban is permanent. Besides that, no statement has been made by ESPN, TSN, or the UFC.
In his tweet, he wrote, “All @espnmma you have been banned from talking to any Dominance fighters because you have a reporter who’s targeting my champions. You need an immediate investigation for corruption today.” “I love what @espnmma brings to the table. They have great reporters Brett Okomoto, Marc Raimondi, Jeff Wagenheim. I have no issue with these guys but enough is enough.”, the manager added.
In another tweet, he said that TSN was also banned from interviewing his fighters. The fans have reacted neutrally to this. Some have appreciated his effort while some have criticisized him.
