The pitch sounded perfect. A little too perfect. Suspiciously perfect, in fact.

Come cover MMA for us. Just tell good stories. Make your readers happy. That’s it.

When you’ve worked in media and covered mixed martial arts, compromise-free journalism sounds noble, but it is rare. Yet, here we are – The Athletic is getting into MMA in a big way! – and the lure of supreme storytelling without worry about conflicts of interest or an intrusive user-experience has brought the sport’s top reporters to our platform. Consider The Athletic’s new multi-media staff. You know the names, and you know their work. It’s a real Dream Team:

Shaheen Al-Shatti : The : The master storyteller and former MMA Fighting senior editor will focus on various features and fight-week coverage while also co-hosting our flagship podcast, The Man and the MITH.

Chad Dundas : An Co-Main Event Podcast , the former writer for ESPN, Bleacher Report, The Sporting News and NBC Sports, will cover all aspects of the sport for us. : An acclaimed novelist and a co-host of the independent, the former writer for ESPN, Bleacher Report, The Sporting News and NBC Sports, will cover all aspects of the sport for us.

Ben Fowlkes : The Co-Main Event Podcast . He previously wrote for USA Today, MMA Junkie, Sports Illustrated and MMA Fighting and is one of the most creative people in the business. : The other half of the. He previously wrote for USA Today, MMA Junkie, Sports Illustrated and MMA Fighting and is one of the most creative people in the business.

Josh Gross : A true Gross Point Blank . Previously, he wrote for Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Sherdog.

: A true MMA media OG , he will focus on general features, MMA history, business developments, and legal and regulatory affairs. Josh will also return to the mic for his own podcast,. Previously, he wrote for Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Sherdog.

Chuck Mindenhall : The : The Man in the Hat (MITH) will work on a variety of features and be a fight-week regular. He’s a former features writer at MMA Fighting and ESPN and was a regular contributor for The Ringer. He’ll co-host the podcast with Al-Shatti.

Fernanda Prates: When she’s not working on features, the bi-lingual Fernanda will host a weekly podcast, I Respectfully Disagree. Previously, she wrote for MMA Junkie and covered the sport for a national Brazilian newspaper, Jornal do Brasil, and will jump onboard on July 1.

My own MMA story began 13 years ago when I left the Cincinnati Reds front office and jumped into the media business. The turning point? In the summer of 2005 I was having a chat with Reds coworkers and they became intrigued after I told them a local fighter, Rich “Ace” Franklin, was the UFC’s reigning middleweight champion. John Allen, then the Reds’ chief operating officer, overheard the conversation.

“He’s from Cincinnati – the fighter? And he’s the champion?” the big boss asked. “Well, in that case, why don’t you see if he’d like to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a game? We should honor him.”

So I extended the invitation, and a few weeks later Franklin arrived at Great American Ball Park as our special guest. Before I could show Franklin around the field during pregame festivities, Reds players were lining up to meet him. Fans were asking him to sign their baseballs. I even did a story about Franklin for reds.com.

Adam Dunn chats with special guest Rich Franklin before a 2005 Reds game. (courtesy Cincinnati Reds)

MMA was booming, but at the time, few reporters were covering the sport in a serious way. So, a year later, I traded in my Reds employee badge and launched MMA Junkie. I was soon traveling the continent and covering one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

Since then MMA has changed dramatically. The UFC is still the top outlet while other worthy contenders such as Bellator, PFL, ONE Championship, Rizin FF, Invicta FC have emerged.

Meanwhile, once-prominent promotions – PRIDE, IFL, EliteXC, WEC, Strikeforce – have been swallowed up.

And while the fight promotions have changed, so too have the media outlets covering them – and not in a good way. Endemic advertisers helped support the business, but inevitable conflicts of interests arose. Additionally, mainstream media companies launched or gobbled up MMA sites, and to squeeze out as much revenue as possible, clicks and page views became the metrics that mattered most. Thus, salacious headlines, recaps of social-media spats, aggregation, out-of-context quotes and provocative photo galleries became the norm. For the folks who just wanted to cover MMA and tell amazing stories, it’s often been a demoralizing experience.

That is changing now. As a subscription-based media company, The Athletic’s sole focus is on you, the consumer. No clickbait, no pop-ups, no auto-play video. Only storytelling from the finest writers and podcasters in the business. Our staffers not only will be cageside, but also in the gyms, the offices and the homes of MMA’s most intriguing figures. We’ll be covering the stories that matter the most, as well as the ones you didn’t even know about.

For a few bucks per month, you can get the type of MMA coverage that passionate fans of the sport deserve. We hope you join us for this new endeavor.

Subscribe now for 40% off with this special deal: theathletic.com/mmalaunch.

(Top photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)