MySpace Fighter Outreach

Ariel Helwani shares how he started his career in MMA journalism by quitting his TV production job and launching his own website.

"I got a job working at Spike TV in September 2007. After a week there, I walked into my boss's office and quit. I said I don't think this is the right fit for me - they didn't do anything creative, I'm a creative guy. They were just kind of the middleman, the UFC was producing all the content.

My boss was very upset. He said 'You're gonna regret this for the rest of your life, this is unprofessional.' They made me stick around for a month and a half in my cubicle until they found someone to replace me.

During this time, I decided I was going to start my own website and interview fighters because I really wanted to go into MMA journalism. I wanted to show people that I could be the Howard Cosell or Max Kellerman of MMA. I started reaching out to fighters via MySpace, and every morning I would post an interview with a fighter. I didn't care if 5 people looked at the interviews or 500,000 - I just wanted to use that to show people that I could do it.

14 years later, I'm doing the same thing on my YouTube page. Now I'm interviewing people like Marty Fish, the former tennis player who's been very open with his battles with anxiety. Friends of mine who have never listened to my work are saying 'Wow, you're a really good interviewer' and I'm like 'Yeah, I've been doing this for 14 years!'"