it was pretty surprising to me to see the UFC back off of the helwani ban at all, let alone so quickly
yes, there was a significant amount of public backlash directed towards the UFC as a result of the ban, but they've been through similar situations before...most recently with stitch and burt...sure, the backlash with those two was not to this extent, but the fertittas and dana have proven to not really care that much about this type of negative public sentiment and have lived their lives as mavericks, with big egos and pride that rarely, if ever, admit they are wrong
the only plausible explanation for the abrupt backtracking, imo, is that the supposed sale of the UFC is very close and the buyer did not want to acquire the UFC and step into a shitstorm of negativity...if the fertittas and blaf are moving on, maybe they don't care as much about "giving in" or "appearing weak" since they will be able to go off into the sunset and cry in their piles of money
Impending sale or not, they would have backtracked anyway when they saw the story was not dying and only getting bigger and gaining quite a bit of mainstream media attention, esp. after the MMA Hour "pipebomb" from Ariel.
Stitch, Burt, Gross, Hunt....none of those bans resulted in anywhere near the attention or backlash as Ariel. Huge difference between getting some heat from other MMA websites for firing Stitch and WaPo calling UFC on the "infantile fringe of sports" for banning Ariel.
UFC has never felt a full on mainstream media backlash for their petty bullshit. They had a taste of it, and reversed course immediately. Especially considering as you noted they are negotiating a sale in addition to moving forward with promoting their biggest card ever.
Sounds like exactly what Luke said on his podcast.
Like exactly, exactly. 
VTCO -I don't know. Isn't any publicity good publicity? And what would be the net result? Will people stop watching the ufc ? No. Will reporters stop covering the ufc? No.Impending sale or not, they would have backtracked anyway when they saw the story was not dying and only getting bigger and gaining quite a bit of mainstream media attention, esp. after the MMA Hour "pipebomb" from Ariel.
Stitch, Burt, Gross, Hunt....none of those bans resulted in anywhere near the attention or backlash as Ariel. Huge difference between getting some heat from other MMA websites for firing Stitch and WaPo calling UFC on the "infantile fringe of sports" for banning Ariel.UFC has never felt a full on mainstream media backlash for their petty bullshit. They had a taste of it, and reversed course immediately. Especially considering as you noted they are negotiating a sale in addition to moving forward with promoting their biggest card ever.
Clearly this is the only plausible explanation.
The Gross and Hunt stuff was long ago. Coverage of the sport at that time wasn't even close to today, so they didn't really have much to lose. The Burt and Stitch stuff wasn't much to worry about as far as public perception is concerned, especially since they aren't really public figures. In other words, it's easy to forget with time.
Ariel on the other hand is a mouthpiece for MMA, and actually has a rather large following. At the very least they must have realized that he's not going away, and his word can have a measurably negative effect on them. Of course, it's possible it's just due to the sale, but I wouldn't discount other possibilities as well, such as respecting Ariel's reach in the sport.
Analysis Paralysis.
Gokudamus
Why does people keep bringing Burt into this. He was never banned, he quit his job.
hawaiidave - Why does people keep bringing Burt into this. He was never banned, he quit his job.
the ufc got a ton of shit for their 'treatment" of him...its the same issue...there is NO WAY under normal circumstances that dana or lorenzo would ever unban helwani
in any purchase agreement there is a covenant that you have to run the business the same way you have and if there are any materially adverse changes, the buyer has the right to back out...well, this probably rose to that level so that was the only reason they decided to lift the ban
hawaiidave - Why does people keep bringing Burt into this. He was never banned, he quit his job.Constructive dissmissal imo