Syracuse Combat Sports Show

A story about how Ariel Helwani chose to forge his own path at Syracuse University rather than following the traditional broadcasting route.

"When I got to Syracuse University, which is the number one school for developing sports broadcasters, they've produced people like Bob Costas, Marv Albert, and Mike Tirico. Everyone goes to this one station WAER to hone their craft and develop their voice.

I noticed that everyone wanted to be the same person, and I never wanted to follow anyone. So I left that station after one semester and went to the rinky-dink third-tier student station in the student center. I did my own combat sports show every Saturday morning over there.

Fast forward a long time, I get to Spike TV in 2007, hate it after a week, and start my own website. That's how I get into MMA journalism. I start interviewing fighters and give myself 6 months to get noticed. I don't get paid for any of this - I was just using this as an opportunity to show people what I can do.

I remember telling my parents in September 2001, 'There's this sport called mixed martial arts, there's this organization called the UFC. It's not even 8 years old, and I think it's going to be mainstream. In 10 years, there's going to be some executive who's like 'What is this crazy cage fighting sport? Who's the voice, who's the Howard Cosell of MMA?' And I want to be that guy.'

Amazingly, literally 10 years later, August 2011, I was hired by Fox, and that was my first big mainstream gig."