June Update: There's been a great response thus far especially on the BJJ and No Gi side. If anyone is interested in Wrestling coverage as well as Judo, Sambo or Catch Wrestling please get in touch at BEGrappling@gmail.com. Thanks!

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Hello fellow BE readers and writers.

As you may have noticed Bloody Elbow is in the process of including and increasing its grappling coverage as part of an initiative headed up by Kid Nate and myself. The coverage will be a first of its kind for a major MMA site and particularly ground breaking for the SBNation series of sites. Kick Boxing and Japanese MMA has Head Kick Legend, Boxing has Bad Left Hook, but Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu / submission grappling - the two major bases in MMA outside of striking - is surprisingly under-represented outside very specific, niche outlets.

Kid Nate has recently appointed me the Bloody Elbow Grappling Editor and I have successfully covered the NCAA Division 1 Men's Wrestling tournament this year and with the help of Patrick Tenney (previously AboveThisFire) covered the IBJJF Pan American Jiu Jitsu tournament a couple of weeks ago.

Both Patrick and I started off as fans fanposting and gradually contributing to features such as the Bloody Elbow Judo Chops and coupled with the MMA history pieces either on the front page or in the fanposts by you guys I believe there's enough of a demand for information to get and keep this grappling coverage going.

This is where you come in. Bloody Elbow and SBNation blogs in general pride itself on being For Fans By Fans and the grappling coverage (soon to be its own section / tab on Bloody Elbow) will be no different. I'm looking for people willing to contribute even if it's only the occasional, infrequent article or write up. What I don't want is for it to become like a chore for people because I can empathise that there is only so much time we have outside of real life commitments whether it be family, work, a social life and other forms of recreation outside of surfing the web. With that in mind, the more of you I can get on board the better as I believe when organised properly the "many hands make light work" proverb rings true.

Here's a quick break down of the arts I'd like to initially cover

Wrestling (Folkstyle, Freestyle and Greco Roman at the Division 1 Collegiate, National and World / International Stage. Also technique, commentary on rule and governing body changes, history etc)

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi (Brown / Black Belt level at the major national and international level such as the IBJJF Pan Ams, European Open and Worlds aka Mundials. Also the Abu Dhabi Pro Jiu Jitsu tournament and possibly if there's interest in CBJJ and USBJJF run major tournaments. Also technique, commentary on rule and governing body changes, history etc)

No Gi Grappling (Brown / Black belt level or equivalent of at the national and international level such as ADCC, No Gi worlds, FILA and superfights set at other organisations such as Grapplers Quest, NAGA etc. Grapplers Quest is also the official partner of the UFC at the Fan Expos often running tournaments within the same location. Also technique, commentary on rule and governing body changes, history etc

Judo (Black belt level national and international such as IJF World Judo Championships, Olympic Judo etc. Also technique, commentary on rule and governing body changes, history etc).

And coverage of the lesser known arts such as Sambo and Catch Wrestling (European, North American and Japanese) to a similar degree as the ones mentioned above.

Please comment below of your interest in reading about these arts, suggestions for coverage if I've missed anything, and especially if you're interested in helping contribute.

For would be contributors please contact me at BEGrappling@gmail.com

In the email state your BE username and which above area you'd like to cover and in what context (Competition coverage eg preview, results and review, Technique, History, State of the Sport, MMA Application etc).

Thanks for reading.