Nathan Wilcox

Nathan Lee Wilcox is an American blogger, editor, and combat sports journalist who is the founder and current CEO of independent mixed martial arts (MMA) publication Bloody Elbow. Wilcox was a founding editor for SB Nation, the sports branch of Vox Media, from 2007 to 2023, and also has over a decade of experience as a political consultant for numerous national political campaigns, having worked for former senator John Kerry, former Virginia governor Mark Warner and former Texas governor Ann Richards.
In addition to having a prominent voice in the current MMA media landscape, Wilcox is well-known for his involvement in and documentation of netroots political blogging campaigns during the 2006 U.S. Senate and House of Representatives elections. At this time, Wilcox was a director of online communications who worked with SBNation co-founder Jerome Armstrong for Gov. Warner’s political action committee, Forward Together. Wilcox has published countless articles and editorial works concerning the finances, culture, and events associated with mixed martial arts and continues to do so today.
==Early life and education==
Nate Wilcox was born on March 7th, 1969, in Borger, Texas. From a young age, Wilcox was captivated by fighting cultural icons like Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Terry Funk, and Charles Bronson, and spent his childhood surrounded by a community of wrestling and combat sports fans. As a young adult, Wilcox read martial arts magazines and watched boxing and MMA events religiously; Wilcox claimed in a July 2023 blog post that viewing the first few UFC events on television in the 1990s founded his long-standing obsession with mixed martial arts.
In 1988, Wilcox graduated high school and was awarded a National Merit Scholar distinction. Wilcox was accepted into the University of Texas at Austin after spending the rest of the calendar year working in an automotive and bicycle repair shop and learning guitar. Wilcox moved to Austin in the fall of 1988, where he currently resides today. After a year studying at the University of Texas, Wilcox dropped out of college and started a rock band with two of his colleagues from Borger. After several months of performing at small venues in Austin and making custom music magazines, Wilcox quit his pursuit of music as a career and returned to the University of Texas to finish his degree.
==Career in politics and journalism==
In 1997, Wilcox graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and began interning at Public Strategies Inc., a public affairs firm in Austin. By 2000, Wilcox was promoted to director of online communications and worked with former Gov. Ann Richards, former Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, future G.W. Bush strategists Mark McKinnon and Matthew Dowd, Bill Clinton advisors Paul Begala and Jeff and other key political figures while employed at Public Strategies Inc., thus beginning Wilcox’s career in political campaigning.
In 2002, Wilcox worked as an online strategist for Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tony Sanchez. The following year, Wilcox started a website dedicated to opposing House majority leader Tom DeLay’s re-redistricting of Texas, which evolved into an activist movement with tens of thousands of participants in the span of a month. Wilcox began working at Mercury Campaigns, a political consulting firm, and caught the attention of multiple Texas political action committees (PACs). By 2004, Wilcox spearheaded online communications for multiple Congressional candidates, including Texas lawyer Richard Morrison.
In January of 2005, Wilcox moved to Virginia and assumed the role of online communications director for Virginia governor Mark Warner’s Forward Together PAC. The campaign’s unique approach to online advocacy and Internet communications garnered nationwide attention from major media outlets like CNN, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. During Wilcox’s tenure at Forward Together, the PAC’s supporter base quadrupled and the campaign raised over a half million dollars in donations from voters online. Wilcox also met and worked with Jerome Armstrong during this time, which eventually led to Wilcox’s employment at SB Nation in the wake of the Warner campaign. The next two years saw Wilcox managing online outreach for Senator John Kerry’s Keeping America’s Promise PAC, which raised millions in online donations and channeled financial support to Democratic candidates for House, Senate, and local offices across the United States.
In February of 2007, Wilcox was recruited by Armstrong to start an MMA blog for SB Nation titled Bloody Elbow, where Wilcox and other founding editors including Luke Thomas provided extensive coverage of mixed martial arts news and events. As Bloody Elbow quickly gained a large following of combat sports enthusiasts in 2008 and 2009, Wilcox worked as a senior strategist for WebStrong Group, a marketing and consultation firm where Armstrong was a partner. 
Wilcox returned to Austin in 2010 and shifted his primary career focus from politics to journalism, continuing to work as an editor at Bloody Elbow as SB Nation evolved into Vox Media. Wilcox’s MMA site prospered under Vox until January of 2023, when Wilcox and many other sports writers were laid off by Vox. After a series of February discussions, Vox granted Wilcox the media rights to Bloody Elbow, and by March of 2023, Wilcox acquired the publication from Vox. Wilcox assumed ownership of Bloody Elbow and currently runs the independent blog as its chief executive officer and founding editor.
==Marriage and children==
Nathan Wilcox is married and has two children.
==Recognition==
In 2003, for his work on the Sanchez campaign, Wilcox was given two Pollie awards by the American Association of Political Consultants, one of which was "Best Overall Campaign."
Category:1969 births
Category:People from Borger, Texas
Category:American people
Category:Bloggers
Category:Editors