Francis Ngannou shocked the world in Riyadh a few days. On his boxing debut, the former UFC champion knocked down boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and lost a one-point split decision to the boxing heavyweight champion, once again proving his doubters wrong. And one of those doubters was Chael Sonnen. A company man through and through, the verbose UFC commentator has been critical of Ngannou’s moves from leaving the UFC to fighting Fury.

Others, such as journalist Ariel Helwani, have been cheering on Ngannou and backing him for a surprise against the lineal and WBC heavyweight champion. And after his performance against Fury, Helwani had Sonnen on his ‘MMA Hour’ show and heatedly confronted the former title contender on his takes on Ngannou, which has drawn sharp reactions from the UFC world, including former light heavyweight champion, Jamahal Hill and one of Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s team members.

Ariel Helwani and Chael Sonnen have a heated argument on Ngannou

Ariel Helwani had a hostile verbal face-off with Sonnen on his show. The journalist took issue with Sonnen claiming that Ngannou ‘fumbled the bag’, i.e., did not make the right financial decision by fighting Fury and leaving the UFC. He felt the pay-per-view numbers were disappointing and termed the Fury fight a business failure.

Helwani disagreed strongly and pointed out that the Cameroonian was injured for the past two years, and had made more money in this fight than he would have at the UFC. The Canadian pressed his former co-host to admit he was wrong on the issue. ‘Uncle Chael’ refused, and their confrontation devolved into name-calling and accusations, with Helwani calling Sonnen a coward. And the former UFC fighter returned in kind, calling the journalist a weasel.

The journalist also implied that Sonnen was against Ngannou because of his affiliation with the UFC, and would never give Ngannou his due. Helwani also claimed Ngannou would be paid between $10 to $20 million, which Sonnen disputed.

Things got so heated that the latter even abruptly left the interview. And their confrontation did not go down well with many, including Jamahal Hill and Ali Abdelaziz, manager to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.

Jamahal Hill’s outburst on Helwani draws agreement from Ali Abdelaziz

Hill addressed this confrontation in a video on his YouTube channel. He does not get along with Helwani, either. Hill has accused the journalist of trying to start a feud between him and Jiri Prochazka. This is why it was no surprise to see him call out Helwani for his conduct during the Sonnen interview. He said that Helwani was the coward and wouldn’t have said those things to Sonnen in person.

“Chael is one of the best fighters in the history of this game. And you calling him a b***h, coward, talking’ about this and that, say it to my face and all this… Now let’s be clear, you’re only being tough like this, talking all of these things because you had a screen in between y’all. If Chael’s there in person, you’re not talking like that,” Hill said.

READ MORE – Sebastian Vettel Tells the Whole Truth on Champion’s Return to Red Bull During F1 Career

Ali Abdelaziz reacted to a clip of ‘Sweet Dreams’ berating the Canadian and agreed with his take on the whole affair. “@JamahalH respect,” he tweeted. Clearly, the confrontation did not go down well with Hill. And many think Helwani did handle the whole confrontation in a child-like manner. However, as far as their argument over what was better for Ngannou financially, the evidence suggests Helwani is right.

Watch this Story – Five things you might have missed in the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley MVP face to face interview with Ariel Helwani