Your's truly gets interviewed by the SBN President (and Athletics blogger) about various topics. On the issue of this site, I had this to say:
Blez: What's it like to have the Bloody Elbow/USA Today MMA Rankings?
Thomas: Unequivocally, that’s the finest reward of anything I’ve experienced since I started blogging. To be recognized by the second largest media on the planet written in the English language is an honor in and of itself. But we’ve actually contributed something to the sport as well. Our rankings demonstrate a step up and commitment to a higher, more sophisticated level of reporting in the mainstream press. Rather than one off articles about fighters that are essentially nothing more than human interest stories, our rankings remind folks MMA is a sport with athletes jockeying for position and hierarchy in hotly contested battles all over the world. That’s all together new for MMA in terms of mainstream media exposure and I am very honored Bloody Elbow helped bring that about.
Blez: What's your hope for Bloody Elbow?
Thomas: I have no formal vision. My only hope is that we can maintain the high standard of quality as we expand our format and grow our output. I’ve found that if I focus on delivering a consistently good product, the rest of the details often sort themselves out. The only major priority I have is quality. Again, with a sport like MMA that’s still grappling with sensitive image issues, I’ve found producing thought-provoking, measured writing can affect opinion more. The more mainstream sports fan and sporting world expect MMA to be followed by the dregs of society. Having writing and analysis beyond the third grade level can actually do wonders for MMA’s acceptance levels, to say nothing of how concerned we are with producing high quality work as a matter of professional responsibility. But yeah, I say openly I write concerned about how the mainstream perceives the MMA community. Someone’s got to write on a level they respect. Might as well be us.
7 months ago
Luke Thomas
3 comments
0 recs |
Comments
I never knew cyborg was your favorite fighter..
No offense, I know he’s game and all, but I don’t get what makes him so special..
by Anton Tabuena on Jul 5, 2009 11:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
He says why.
“Gameness” I believe is the term. I personally dislike fighters who throw away “physical consequences” in favor of an exciting fight. Any fight that Cyborg doesn’t win in the first five minutes can pretty much be counted a loss, due to his consistently poor conditioning. But as Luke said, he doesn’t like him because he’s the best.
by Ahhhoki on Jul 5, 2009 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Good stuff, as always, Luke.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito Ortiz on Vitor Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Jul 5, 2009 11:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs




![A little publicity for me today in the Washington City Paper. To wit:
But listening to Kinard, it sounds like management has decided Thomas can transcend his surroundings.
"We thought we’d experiment with some different kinds of shows last year, and of all of them, MMA Nation is the only one that lasted," Kinard says. "I wasn’t aware of anybody else doing [an MMA show]. And [in April] he outperformed our normal weekend ratings by more than double. We started out thinking this has the potential to be a nationally syndicated show, and that’s still our plan. You see MMA all over the place on TV, so why not on the radio?"
I hate to be over the top with the self-promotion, but no one is going to hand me the job and career I'm after. I want to work in MMA full time and the fact is I have to make it happen for myself. Thank you to everyone who has ever shown me an ounce of support towards the pursuit of that dream.
Onward and upward.](http://cdn0.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/54844/1244671916_m_cheap-1_small.jpg)













