Paulo Costa sides with Ariel Helwani as he weighs in on Paddy Pimblett's tirade against the reporter

UFC middleweight Paulo Costa has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Paddy Pimblett and MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.

On this week's episode of Pimblett's Chattin Pony podcast, 'The Baddy' welcomed UFC president Dana White as the pair previewed the upcoming UFC 282 card. During the show, Ariel Helwani's name was mentioned by Pimblett, and both he and White launched their own tirade against the 40-year-old.

In a clip from the podcast tweeted by 'Borrachinha', the Liverpudlian stated that Helwani only cares about making money from fighters, rather than being a journalist:

"The idiots talking about fighter pay, you get paid what you're worth. I hate all these journalists, especially the ones that earn off us. Ariel Helwani in particular loves earning money off of fighters. Every decent job he's had, he's been sacked from. Now he's just a biased content creator. He hates on you, hates on the UFC and hates me now."

Paddy Pimblett continued:

"He uses fighters for clicks. He uses fighters to make money. He tries to then have the audacity to talk about the UFC and yourself [Dana White] to say you don't pay them enough."

Paulo Costa followed up his original post by stating that he sided with Ariel Helwani in this situation. He has been a guest on Helwani's The MMA Hour multiple times:

"Ariel all day"

Watch the full podcast here:

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Ariel Helwani responds to Paddy Pimblett and Dana White

Ariel Helwani has responded to Paddy Pimblett and Dana White's accusations, stating that they have both been spewing out lies.

Helwani and White's issues date back to 2016, when the Canadian journalist was the first to report Brock Lesnar's planned return for UFC 200. The UFC president responded by banning the 40-year-old from attending future events.

On the latest episode of The MMA Show, Ariel Helwani had his say on the latest controversy. According to the journalist, while he's not bothered by White and Pimblett taking aim at him, he will defend himself when it involves lying:

"They don't have to deal in the currency that is the truth. They could come out and say whatever they want. They can make up s**t all day long, and they don't have to answer for it. I do; I have to deal in the truth."

Helwani also addressed his own pay. According to the reporter, he works from a fixed pay scheme and isn't influenced by how many views his interviews or shows generate.

Catch the full response here: