The MMA journalism landscape has undergone a significant shift with the sale of Bloody Elbow, a site renowned for its comprehensive coverage of mixed martial arts, to GRV Media Ltd. The acquisition has led to the complete layoff of the site's staff, including the dismissal of the Managing Editor, Anton Tabuena, who lamented the deletion of his and the team's work spanning the last 15 years. The site was known for its adversarial coverage, particularly in areas like the UFC lawsuit, and its technical analysis of the sport, which played a pivotal role in educating fans. The decision by the new owners to archive many of Bloody Elbow's articles has sparked a wave of criticism from the MMA community, with many seeing it as a significant loss for journalism in the sport. KidNate, a former staff member, announced plans to continue covering MMA under a new name via Substack, attempting to preserve some of the site's legacy, while GRV Media announced none of the current staff would be retained.
Bloody Elbow ran articles accusing Renzo Gracie and Gordon Ryan of being Nazis and worked with a convicted Pedo The fact so many MMA journalists are mad about them being shut down says a lot https://t.co/PFnX4cctIW
Late to the party, but I was gutted to see the Bloody Elbow news. Truly some of the kindest people I've worked with and forever grateful they gave me a chance early in my career. I don't think their contributions will ever fully be appreciated. MMA is far worse off without them
Bloody Elbow has long been an incredible site, doing often thankless work that the UFC didn't want them to do. My heart goes out to everyone there who lost their jobs.
Bloody Elbow MMA site sold, staff laid off, many writers’ archives deleted https://t.co/mauUXueZyx https://t.co/hVFBHONiPz
No love lost on this end for Bloody Elbow and their respective journalists. Paid above market value because of their crowdfunding approach brought conflict of interest reporting. My job at FedEx is always hiring, keep your heads up. 🤜🫶 If financial incentives weren’t deep… https://t.co/4d4j1QYjhp
LOL The first two paragraphs BloodyElbow's new owners press release basically say "Bloody Elbow was known for amazing unique MMA coverage. So we bought it and fired all the people that did that coverage" https://t.co/GfbBHJQcKS
Who bought Bloody Elbow? What are yall thoughts?
Today is a dark day in MMA media. My heart goes out to all of the extremely talented people at Bloody Elbow who lost their jobs. Bloody Elbow unearthed some of the biggest MMA news stories of the last decade (fighter pay, lawsuit, etc.). Without Bloody Elbow's fearless…
Bloody Elbow employees on the TL rn: https://t.co/klK57eiIzf
In addition to losing BE's adversarial coverage, they were one of the few sites that had an interest in covering the technical side of the sport, which had a gigantic influence on educating an entire generation of MMA fans (myself included). https://t.co/MQioYj90sX
Why even buy Bloody Elbow if you're going to lay everyone off and remove all its best work? This blows.
Here are just some of my features from the last few months alone that were part of the thousands they wiped. I think our team produced great work at Bloody Elbow, and I'm gutted that the brand we've worked so hard to build for the last 15 years was just sold and thrown away. https://t.co/YtnbQhk0u3
GRV Media has purchased @BloodyElbow and announced that none of the current staff will be retained per a release: https://t.co/FViv4Dym1z @KidNate announced via BE's newsletter that they will continue covering MMA with some of the previous staff under a new name via Substack. https://t.co/9aIBjvtoyH
The landscape is continuing to change. Bloody Elbow is officially soulless. The new owners are as vanilla as it gets. They’re about to get a lesson in the fact that it’s not the platform that people fall in love with, it’s the contributors. They fired every one of the writers.
GRV Media Ltd Acquires Bloodyelbow. com https://t.co/qXrTn87KeQ
The significance of the loss of @BloodyElbow to adversarial coverage in combat sports is incalculable. There is so much we know about the conduct of bad actors in the space because of their work. There is no other site like it. What a devastating moment.
Bloody Elbow was by far the worst MMA website They hired Pedos and tried pushing the Woke agenda in MMA I'm glad to see this trash site is done https://t.co/6OCj3LdiOJ
Hey @GRVMedia could you please explain why you are deleting content off the @BloodyElbow site? Especially all the stories that @heynottheface has done about the upcoming Anti Trust lawsuit vs the UFC? Seems detrimental that media company would erase great journalists &…
This is a massive loss not just for all affected but for the sport of MMA as a whole. @BloodyElbow was one of the few sites that did actual journalism in the sport. Their coverage of the impending UFC lawsuit is vital for the sport. A sad day. https://t.co/ZtPEYiptdp
So the news is out. Nate sold Bloody Elbow and the entire staff was laid off I see BE is still running, but I’m no longer Managing Editor and it won’t have the team that built it They also deleted not just my business/finance/law posts, but everything I wrote the last 15 years https://t.co/2TEUre2JLt
Bloody Elbow Sold and Articles Archived by New Owners Full Story: 📰 https://t.co/h9wNJ9VdWJ https://t.co/6JBLUPvkBD
Bloody Elbow’s new ownership. https://t.co/XUeiiyJKYZ
Bloody Elbow new ownership. https://t.co/tqMPrqvVfh
To the new owners of @BloodyElbow Your decision to delete the posts from your archives that made it the best site in actual MMA reporting seems like a special bit of dumbassery.
Update tomorrow on @BloodyElbow. All content is still on their @SubstackInc https://t.co/CJdd6Uinwo
Yes there will be an announcement about @BloodyElbow tomorrow. In the meantime, please stop unsubscribing to our Substack. We're keeping the stuff you care about on the Subtack which will remain under my control and will not be going to the new owners.
Heartbroken for the whole Sellout Crowd team, which was gutted after just a few months on the scene. I’m especially devastated for Brett, my former Lakers beat partner in LA. If you’re lucky enough to know Brett, then you know how much care and humility he brings to his work. https://t.co/CpbySxqhk0