On January 20th, Nate Wilcox, the founder of Bloody Elbow, was released from his contract with Vox Media.
Over the past month, Vox has been slowly gutting its editorial staff in a wave of layoffs. It was only a matter of time before BE got caught in the crosshairs. Now, the MMA media landscape will look to the future without it.
Bloody Elbow has been regarded as one of the most efficient, entertaining, and trustworthy sources for MMA content since its inception. Their work on fighter pay, which is a taboo topic notorious for being insanely difficult to report on, laid the groundwork for other publications to start looking into it.
The cloudy controversy that surrounds what MMA fighters make, especially UFC fighters, was one that BE looked to clarify. They made it their mission to dismantle the iron curtain placed in front of fighter finances.
But it’s clear the media landscape is changing. So what does it mean for MMA news, journalists, and content? It’s important to understand who the players in MMA content are today.
BE was published on SB Nation, a blog network owned by media conglomerate Vox. While this certainly gave BE resources, it put BE at risk of going down with the ship along with other SB Nation-tied blogs MMA Fighting and MMA Mania. No news has been announced concerning those specific contracts.
It seems that Wilcox just got unlucky. In summary, Bloody Elbow, MMA Fighting, and MMA Mania are three of the largest sources of MMA news on the internet, but they are all tied to Vox. If Vox goes down, all three go down.
Another major source is ESPN, as they are with all sports, but they too are not independent. Other publishers also dip into MMA, but mainly for the breaking news: Forbes, Front Office Sports, Yahoo Sports, etc.
In essence, the loss of BE paints a grim picture for MMA journalism, as it accounts for one-third of trusted, truly dedicated MMA publications on the internet.
But opportunity lies ahead.
MMA has some of the highest viewership numbers in the world. According to the Neilsen report titled Year in Review: Sports Consumption Evolution, the Asian MMA promotion ONE Championship ranked 2nd in global digital viewership behind the NBA.
The NBA.
Many people in the United States have never heard of ONE, but indeed it is one of the largest sports entities in the world. As the content demand for MMA continues to grow across the world, the necessity for creators will increase.
The sport itself transcends languages and borders–in many corners of the earth, MMA is seen as a necessity of life. So, as the interest in mixed martial arts grows, quality reporting will be needed everywhere. The same cannot be said for all sports.
It’s sad to hear the skilled, passionate, and intelligent reporters from Bloody Elbow have lost their jobs. MMA media will struggle to grapple with the changes, and many people within the industry are right to be feeling anxious about their futures.
However, after taking a 30,000-foot glance at the landscape, hope emerges. The world loves MMA. People want to consume it in all forms. It continues to grow daily, and that growth speaks volumes to the passion surrounding the sport. Surely, the next breakthrough opportunity in MMA reporting is within reach. All that’s left to do is take it.