The Man Who Changed My Life: Ariel Helwani Talks Creating Successful Content, What’s Next, and That Time I Spent $296 on Water

I owe everything to Ariel Helwani.

Without me asking, Ariel praised my work to ESPN executives when we used to walk the halls together. Then, he helped me land the producing job that gave me the safety net I needed to leave ESPN in early 2021. A few months later, he recommended me for my current role as his producer at Spotify, a fully remote job that’s allowed me to travel the world, produce impactful far-reaching podcasts for sports fans, and work with the people I love to work with at the top audio company in the world.

Furthermore, Ariel generously agreed to write a blurb for the front cover of my book, another example to add to an incredibly long list of unnecessarily kind things he’s done for me since we started working together five years ago.

When I began this podcast in 2020, I knew I wanted to ask Ariel to join when I was ready. That day has finally come.

Ariel Helwani -- the top combat sports journalist in the world, one of the best interviewers in the media industry, and one of the most prolific content creators on planet Earth -- joins me for a wide-ranging conversation about his career, personal life, what he still has left to prove, our work together, and so much more:

• Opening montage (00:00)
• Why Ariel's main show, "The MMA Hour," remains so popular after 10+ years (01:05)
• Ariel's very successful content creation strategy (07:00)
• Why Ariel wants to be more like ESPN's Pat McAfee (09:25)
• Whether Ariel doubted he'd ever find success (17:52)
• Why having kids "saved" Ariel's life (31:15)
• Why you should say yes...and then say no (35:40)
• How to network properly (42:07)
• Did Ariel get lucky? (48:15)
• The happiest moment of Ariel's career (54:23)
• An inside look at the unique relationship between Ariel and I -- which involves some stories about minimalism, how I got into MMA, and Fiji water (59:24)

To support Ariel, give him a follow on Instagram @arielhelwani.

To support this podcast, please follow "The Found Generation" on Spotify and YouTube.

If you’re a fan of "The MMA Hour," then you’ll love my recent conversations in New York City with Ariel’s producers Conner Burks and Eric Jackman.

Thank you <3