"I don't regret the way I handled it" - Ariel Helwani gives his opinion on the Bryce Mitchell controversy on The MMA Hour

During the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani had a controversial interview with Bryce Mitchell.

Due to the backlash received from fans, Helwani took it upon himself to share his thoughts regarding the situation. He gave everyone a clearer idea of why he handled it the way he did.

Summarizing the events that took place on Monday, Helwani said:

"In short, I don't regret the way I handled it. A very small amount of people said I should have ended it earlier, and I can see their point, but that thought never really crossed my mind, to be honest."

The Canadian then explained why he wanted to allow Bryce Mitchell to have his say. It was to show everyone that you're able to disagree with somebody while still showing them respect:

"My main objective, once it was clear he didn’t want to talk MMA, was to show the audience that two people who don’t agree on any of this stuff can still (virtually) shake hands and walk away from the conversation with respect."

Once again insisting that he doesn't agree with the majority of what Mitchell said, Helwani feels as though he accomplished something by allowing Bryce to speak his mind. Despite Helwani's thoughts, he still wishes the UFC fighter hadn't said some of the things he said:

"Do I wish he didn’t say certain things? Yes. Absolutely. And I can see why some may have been offended by it."

If you want to see everything Ariel Helwani had to say on the subject, head over to the attached website in his tweet below.

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The Bryce Mitchell situation

While the majority of guests tend to visit The MMA Hour to talk about their upcoming fights and unreleased projects, Bryce Mitchell decided to take a different approach.

Starting the interview by requesting that he ask questions to Ariel instead, Mitchell went on to discuss politics. What started out as a lighthearted discussion quickly turned problematic. Mitchell began mentioning school shootings, the U.S. government, and gun laws.

Ariel Helwani was, of course, dismissive of some of the eccentric claims, but fans were given almost 30 minutes of Bryce's wild views.

You can check out The MMA Hour, below: