It appears Tony Khan will not be putting his money in the octagon despite a recent report, and the AEW President had some choice words for the reporter behind it.
Khan led an AEW media call ahead of Forbidden Door 2 on Thursday. Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald asked Tony if there was truth to the report that Tony and his father Shad had an interest in purchasing Bellator MMA, an entity that several parties have thrown their hat into.
“I’m familiar with Bellator, I’m familiar with MMA and have never worked professionally in the space other than having some stars from UFC appear at times in AEW but I saw that report and there’s really nothing to that. I’m not sure where that rumor got started.”
After squashing such rumors, Khan asked if it was Ariel Helwani who was the source of the report. Khan mentioned that he received that report when he was backstage at “AEW Dynamite” tapings. When Varsallone confirmed it was Helwani, Khan didn’t hold back in his opinion on the MMA journalist.
“Well it would not be the first inaccurate thing Ariel Helwani has reported. That is completely inaccurate but that is Ariel Helwani for you.”
Tony Khan And Ariel Helwani Have A Contentious History
The beef between Tony Khan and Ariel Helwani began following Khan’s appearance on Helwani’s podcast. The episode occurred in 2022 and was fresh off of the infamous All Out Media scrum. Khan deflected from answering any questions regarding CM Punk at the time and Helwani later expressed his disappointment in how the interview went down.
When Helwani showed up at ringside for WWE Elimination Chamber in February, Khan called Helwani a “fraud” which got the two going back and forth on social media, with Helwani calling Khan a “snowman.” Days later, Helwani would state that he does not consider himself a pro wrestling journalist and made the appearance with WWE as more of a fan than anything.
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