Tony Khan Denies Report That His Family Has Expressed Interest In Purchasing Bellator

It was recently reported that Shad Khan and his son, AEW President Tony Khan, were interested in buying the MMA promotion Bellator, but the younger Khan threw cold water on those rumors earlier today.

"I was surprised to see that report," Khan said during a media call ahead of the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view. "I haven't had any conversations about that."

Khan says his father also hasn't been involved in any discussions of purchasing the MMA promotion. He also took shots at the initial source of the rumored talks, journalist Ariel Helwani, who said the Khans were interested in purchasing Bellator. Helwani's report drew comparisons to the recent merger between WWE and UFC, which will combine the pro wrestling and MMA companies into the newly formed TKO Holdings Group. Khan's father has many sports interests, as a co-owner of AEW, as well as the owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and the English Premier League's Fulham FC.

"It would not be the first inaccurate thing Ariel Helwani has reported," Khan said. "It is completely inaccurate, but that's Ariel Helwani for you."

Khan and Helwani got into a quarrel on social media earlier this year, with Khan calling Helwani a "fraud" over his coverage of WWE Elimination Chamber (which included Helwani making on-screen appearances during WWE programming) and accusing Helwani of harboring a bias against AEW while giving favorable coverage to WWE. For his part, Helwani said he was surprised at the outburst initially not believing the tweets were from Khan. Later Helwani called the incident "bizarre," as he felt there was an outsized response to the situation.