Star sports reporter set to make major move

Nearly one week after announcing he would be leaving Vox Media and Spotify when his contracts expired, Ariel Helwani’s next move appears to be coming into focus.

According to Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez, the MMA insider is nearing a deal to join Yahoo Sports . Per Perez, the Quebec native is currently in “advanced negotiations” to join the outlet, with Helwani declining a request for comment from FOS.

Yahoo certainly makes sense as a landing spot for Helwani considering that it’s one of the few mainstream entities that has shown a recent devotion to covering MMA. The online outlet had previously employed Kevin Iole since 2007 before laying off the longtime MMA and boxing reporter this past December. Yahoo’s current roster of MMA reporters includes contributing writer Ben Fowlkes, with the bulk of its content coming from the Gannett-owned MMA Junkie website via an agreement that dates back to 2007.

Prior to announcing his impending departures from Vox and Spotify , where his contracts officially expired last week, Helwani had publicly expressed a desire to remain at the outlets — especially Vox — if possible. In revealing he’d be moving on without new contracts in place, he noted that he had received offers to remain with both outlets, but that the opportunity he had been presented with elsewhere was ultimately too enticing to turn down.

“It is one that I am incredibly excited about,” Helwani said of his next venture. “Just consider how much I love Vox and my studio and the people there and MMA Fighting. Consider how much fun I had with Spotify and The Ringer. And that should tell you just how amazing this next chapter is in my mind. Because it had to be something truly amazing to say goodbye to them.”

It now appears we know what that next chapter will be.

[ Front Office Sports ]

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