Helwani: I did nothing wrong in reporting news

Mixed martial arts journalist Ariel Helwani, who was booted from UFC 199 and had his press credential removed for life after reporting the UFC was negotiating with Brock Lesnar, says he did nothing wrong.

Helwani suggested Monday it was the Feritta brothers, who own the UFC, and not UFC president Dana White who made the decision, in an interview with Montreal's TSN 690.

"I've always had a very good relationship with Dana," Helwani said. "I got the feeling that deep down inside Dana didn't want to do this."

It appears the UFC was miffed when Helwani scooped what would have been a shocking announcement about Lesnar's return, but it doesn't appear Helwani ran afoul of any journalistic standards.

Helwani said in a separate interview Monday with The Dan Patrick Show he believes the UFC is the reason he was recently fired from his job covering MMA for FOX (he now works for MMAFighting.com).

"FOX dropped me because the UFC told it to. That's a fact," Helwani said, according to Awful Announcing.

Helwani told TSN 690 he hopes "cooler heads prevail" and he will be permitted to continue covering MMA.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone. I don't think I did anything wrong. ... I don't want this to be the end of my career," Helwani said.

"I didn't break an embargo. I didn't betray somebody who told me something off the record," Helwani said, adding the notion he should have run the story by the UFC before reporting it as a professional courtesy is irrelevant because the UFC would simply deny it.

"I'm kind of embarrassed - this is not some great investigation journalism that I'm doing," Helwani said.

"I didn't think, with the sport coming so far, that it would get to this. It kills me. The No. 1 thing you're taught is that you're not the story. I wish I was talking about Michael Bisping becoming the champion."