''Bloody Elbow'' is a news website that covers the sports of

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

(MMA),

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, and other traditional martial arts and

combat sports A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the opp ...

. Founded in 2007, the site is notable for its

investigative reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

, breaking news coverage, opinion and analysis. It operates as part of the '' SB Nation'' network of sports blogging sites owned by

Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...

. The website is a part of the growing collection of MMA focused media outlets and provides analysis as well as compantary of multiple aspects of MMA.

Overview

Founder Nate Wilcox (Kid Nate) recruited Luke Thomas to help run Bloody Elbow on May 21, 2007. Thomas worked as editor in chief of Bloody Elbow until 2011. Brent Brookhouse served as Bloody Elbow's managing editor from 2011 to 2015, before being replaced by Anton Tabuena from 2015 to present. Bloody Elbow was reviewed as one of the best MMA news & media blogs online. Currently it is the third most popular MMA media & news website in the US according to Similarweb. In 2017, Bloody Elbow editor Karim Zidan appeared on an episode of HBO's

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel ''Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'' is a monthly sports news magazine on HBO. Since its debut on April 2, 1995, the program has been presented by television journalist and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel. Overview Format Each episode consists of fo ...

to discuss his work covering Chechen dictator

Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov ce, КъадаргӀеран Ахьмат-кӏант Рамзан, translit= (born 5 October 1976) is a Russian politician who currently serves as the Head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated to the ...

's influence in the world of mixed martial arts. Among Bloody Elbow's regular contributors is Eugene S. Robinson, lead singer of the band Oxbow (band). Other notable contributors to Bloody Elbow include

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

veterans such as the late

Josh Samman Joshua Kaleb Samman (March 14, 1988 – October 5, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist who, at the time of his death, competed in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and also competed for Bellator MMA. Mixed m ...

, women's MMA pioneer

Roxanne Modafferi Roxanne Vincenta Modafferi (born September 24, 1982) is an American retired mixed martial artist, who most recently fought for the UFC. Though she last fought in the flyweight division, she has fought in multiple weight classes in her career. A p ...

, Ben Saunders, and

Phil Baroni Philip George Baroni (April 16, 1976) is a retired American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and former kickboxer. A professional MMA competitor since 2000, Baroni has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, Cage Rage, DREAM, Elit ...

. Bloody Elbow's reporting has been sourced in many mainstream publications, including

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

The Advocate (LGBT magazine) ''The Advocate'' is an American LGBT magazine, printed bi-monthly and available by subscription. ''The Advocate'' brand also includes a website. Both magazine and website have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertain ...

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

and

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

. Over the years Bloody Elbow has featured interviews with hundreds of professional MMA fighters as well as characters outside of the sport including Anthony Bourdain and

Ed O'Neill Edward Leonard O'Neill (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. His roles include Al Bundy on the Fox Network sitcom '' Married... with Children'', for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes, and Jay Pritchett on the a ...

. Known for investigative reporting, Bloody Elbow has been among the first to uncover and report in-depth on the finances of MMA promotions such as the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, Bellator MMA, and

ONE Championship ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

. Bloody Elbow was also first to report and go in-depth on the major

class-action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

antitrust lawsuit filed against the UFC by its fighters, who are calling for "fair" business practices and better pay. Bloody Elbow is among a number of media organizations and professionals that are currently blacklisted by the

. The website has been a useful resource for academics studying MMA culture and trends.

Awards

Bloody Elbow has been nominated as Media Source of the Year at the

World MMA Awards The World MMA Awards are awards presented by ''Fighters Only'' magazine to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of mixed martial arts. Winners are presented with the ''Fighters Only silver statuette''. The World MMA Awards are divided ...

in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Brent Brookhouse was nominated for MMA Journalist of the Year at the

in 2016. Karim Zidan was nominated for MMA Journalist of the Year at the

in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

References

{{Vox Media Mixed martial arts websites Internet properties established in 2001

Overview

Awards

See also

References