Adriano Moraes is seemingly aligning himself with Sean Strickland amid the latter’s beef with Ariel Helwani. All of this kicked off when Helwani went after Strickland for backtracking on some of his inflammatory pre-fight comments toward Khamzat Chimaev before the American unseated ‘Borz’ to become a two-time UFC middleweight champion in the process.
In an excerpt from The Ariel Helwani Show, provided by X account @HappyPunch, in the wake of UFC 328, Helwani said,
“That is the biggest bunch of bulls**t I’ve ever heard. That is fraud. That is cowardly s**t. You cannot walk that back. You called Khamzat’s mother a w**re! That tells me you’re not who you say you are. You’re a walking contradiction.”
The newly minted kingpin of 185 pounds responded to the tenured MMA media member on X, as Strickland stated,
“This is why I dont do media with him. You are a leech who I’ve never respected. The moment I met this man I knew his quality. End of the day the hatred between was real, what he said about me was wrong, what I said about him was wrong. This what hate and anger does to people and it still might be there but we earned each other’s respect through blood and I would never expect a man of his quality to understand that.. You are and will always be a pathetic MMA leech who has done nothing besides criticizing men who are better than yourself.”
Former ONE Championship titleholder and recent MVP MMA 1 victor Adriano Moraes would then retweet the UFC titleholder’s retort to Helwani, as Moraes quipped,
“Now I can tell I agreed 100%”
Adriano Moraes sides with Strickland in Helwani beef, fans sound off
Adriano Moraes would seemingly have an issue with Ariel Helwani after the recent interview done with Moraes’ opponent at MVP MMA 1, Phumi Nkuta, with Nkuta discussing the nature of their finish which many saw as controversial.
The Netflix broadcast saw Moraes win via submission, but some felt like the bout ending hold remained locked in place after the bell had sounded. Nkuta posited that Moraes was cheating, is seeking some sort of commission appeal on the bout verdict, and perhaps the Brazilian combatant felt a certain negativity by proxy toward Helwani for platforming this interview.
Several X users responded to Moraes taking this stance relating to the Strickland and Helwani situation, with some of the responses reading as follows:
@Tado4Real said,
“You only agree with him because of what Phumi said on Ariel’s show. You cheated and held in a choke well after the bell. We all saw it.”
@InYoSzn stated,
“Because he thinks it should have went to decision?”
@notjoshray quipped,
“You agreed that you’re a cheater? I’m not sure I’ve seen a more pathetic way to cheat. You weren’t “in the moment.” Be better.”
@julianxMMA said,
“It sometimes surprises me how sensitive mma fighters are compared to other sport athletes. Grow a pair.”
@Tyler65411543 stated,
“Bro you cheated. Straight up. Herb had to literally pry your arms off of that man CLEAR after the bell.”
