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Luke Thomas (born 1979) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist, analyst, and radio host.
Contents
Early life
Thomas was born in 1979 in the Republic of India, to an American foreign service officer father and a Syrian of Armenian descent mother who lived in Lebanon. Thomas mostly grew up in Washington DC, and Georgia, United States. He graduated from The College of William & Mary. Between 1998-2005 he served in Battery H of the 3rd Battalion 14th Marines in Richmond, Virginia, reaching the rank of sergeant.
While in college he started training in Judo, and while serving in the Military he participated in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Today he practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ).
Career
Thomas has been dedicatedly following mixed martial arts since 2004.
Between February 2006 - May 2007 (inactive July 2006-March 2007) Thomas founded and wrote commentary on his MMA dedicated blog Mad-Squabbles.com, with his online identity known as Mad Squabbles. In March 2007 the popular MMA website Fightopinion.com began promoting his articles. Fightlinker.com described the blog: "probably the best blog i’ve seen pop up in the past 6 months. Definately [sic] worth bookmarking and visiting every day." From April 2007, leading MMA website UFCmania.com (acquired by SB Nation in 2009 as MMAmania.com) selected Mad Squabbles as one of its MMA beat reporters for its official MMA fighter ranking poll.
Between 2008-late 2010 he was color commentating live broadcast fight cards for the regional MMA promotion Ultimate Warrior Challenge.
Between 2008-2012; Thomas was host to sports talk radio show MMA Nation on WJFK-FM (CBS Radio's 106.7 The Fan). From 2012-currently; he is the host of The Luke Thomas Show on Sirius XM radio (Rush, channel 93).
Between 2007-2011; contrary to a common misconception, Thomas wasn't the founder or co-founder of SB Nation's first MMA sports blog BloodyElbow.com (launched February 15, 2007). Founder Nate Wilcox (Kid Nate) recruited Thomas to help run it on May 21, 2007. Thomas eventually became editor in chief of BloodyElbow.com. It was reviewed as one of the best MMA news & media blogs online. Currently it is the #5 most popular MMA media & news website worldwide according to Alexa Internet.
From 2011-currently; he is an MMA senior editor at SB Nation and senior editor at MMAFighting.com (acquired by SB Nation November 2011 from AOL); a 2 million unique users per month website in 2011, and currently the #3 most popular MMA media & news website worldwide according to Alexa Internet. Also a two time (2013,2015) World MMA Awards Media Source of the Year winner. Thomas is most notable on MMAFighting.com as a charter and regular panelist on The MMA Beat web series moderated by MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, and for his weekly webcast Promotional Malpractice and podcast Monday Morning Analyst.
Professional Views
Thomas stated he likes MMA fighting because "Struggle and fear tackled by athleticism, technical know-how and innate desires for self-preservation brings out a side in humanity that exists only in the deepest recesses of our being. MMA fighting has no peer when it comes to the demands the sport places on its participants both physically and psychologically. And I love watching that dynamic in action"". But he hates everything else about the MMA world; He thinks many of the individuals in the industry are "utterly detestable". He suspects that "the majority of conversations [he has] with members of the fight community are either extended lies or at least contain a lie". Therefore, he tries to keep his direct contact with MMA promotions to a minimum.
He dislikes Professional wrestling (Pro-wrestling) because "it sucks" and he doesn't like fiction.
He is very irritated by MMA journalists or analysts who are "gigantic fat slobs". According to Thomas "One need not train five days a week to be a competent analyst of MMA, but experiencing the rigors of physical punishment certainly informs your judgment."
Controversy
On June 15, 2010; Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White misunderstood a Twitter exchange discussing his "ineptness" as an MMA promoter, between a fan and MMA Nation talk radio show host Thomas. White tweeted back to the fan, attacking Thomas "u shouldn't even respond to this douche who doesn't know sh*t about the sport ... never heard of this clown or his website or whatever it is.". When White realized that Thomas in fact responded positively about him to the fan, he tweeted an apology and on July 1, 2010 gave a live telephone interview to Thomas on MMA Nation as compensation .
Thomas, and other MMA journalists and fans, have criticized the UFC for putting on too many shows and thus diluting the quality of their product. On March 7, 2014; while watching Bellator 111 fight event which he reviewed on Mmafighting.com earlier that day, Thomas tweeted "Dear ALL MMA Promoters: More MMA is not better. No one cares anymore. Better MMA is better. Please fix your product. Thanks in advance.". UFC president Dana White responded with the tweet "Dear whoever the hell u are. Nobody gives a shit what u think 02 is sold out and fans r pumped for 2 nite. Ur opinion=WGAF" (White was referring to March 8, UFC Fight Night 37 in London). When another Twitter member confronted White, tweeting " if nobody gives a shit what [Thomas] thinks, then why is he on @ufc countdown shows?" White responded with the tweet "I already said wont make that mistake again". UFC Countdown shows are "UFC’s documentary series profiling the fighters appearing in upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship events" also featuring prominent MMA media members point of view.
On March 24, 2016; Thomas revealed on The MMA Beat (Episode 102), that he is blocked from Dana White's Twitter feed. Fellow panelists, MMA journalists Chuck Mindenhall and Jeff Wagenheim stated the same, while Ariel Helwani was not.
Personal life
In January 2014, following the reported suicide of MMA female fighter Cat Zingano's husband, Thomas shared that his mother took her own life when he was 23 years old (2003). Thomas described his loss "a pain that is torturous and inextingushible".
Thomas's wife is Colombian born and raised in Bogota.
Thomas is into Oenophilia, since his family is in the wine business.
Awards
Thomas has been a 2014 Journalist Of The Year World MMA Awards nominee. Luke won Donk of the year for 2016 Voted on by his single listener to his radio show, The Puke Thomas show.