An interview on Wednesday between Ariel Helwani and Chanel Sonnen quickly devolved into a shouting match between the former ESPN co-hosts on The MMA Hour.
Helwani had Sonnen on to react to Francis Ngannou’s split decision loss this past Saturday to Tyson Fury. Sonnen was asked to weigh his previous statements about the fight with the result, and Ngannou’s pay quickly emerged as a topic of heated contention.
Sonnen disputed Helwani’s reporting that Ngannou would likely bank between $10-20 million for the boxing match, arguing the event was not successful on pay-per-view. The conversation slowly grew hostile, with Sonnen at one point threatening to “strangle” Helwani and Helwani repeatedly calling Sonnen a “liar.”
After minutes of back-and-forth shouting, Sonnen abruptly ended the interview. Helwani wasn’t sure whether the three-time UFC title challenger was really angry or not; the two frequently argued over the business of MMA during their stint as co-hosts on Ariel and The Bad Guy.
The full interview between Helwani and Sonnen can be seen above.
