Interview with UFC Editorial Director: Thomas Gerbasi

Thomas Gerbasi Gives Advice For Aspiring Journalists By Providing An Insight Into What Makes A Good Journalist And By Elaborating On The Sports Media Business As A Whole

One of the most experienced and well-established people in the sports journalism field took time out of his day to do an interview with a random college student he had never met.

I was assigned an assignment in my multimedia that required me to arrange a 5 question Q & A with a respected member of the sports journalism business. I sent countless emails and DMs to my favorite sports journalists and tv personalities in hopes of securing a phone call with one. However, none of them replied except for Mr. Thomas Gerbasi.

While I’d like to say that I came in contact with Mr. Gerbasi in a more professional way, it was a comment I left on one of his old Instagram posts asking for advice about journalism that caught his attention. Mr. Gerbasi replied within a day, providing me with his email and saying to contact him. Within a few days I was on a phone call with Mr. Gerbasi.

Before I picked up my phone and typed in his number, my heart was racing and my stomach was in knots. However, when Mr. Gerbasi answered the phone. His demeanor was much more playful, charismatic, and relatable than I could have imagined. When I first began my conversation with Mr. Gerbasi, I asked him if he could give his best piece of advice for someone like me who is trying to enter the sports journalism field.

“Outwork everybody as simple as that”, he said. “I haven’t had a weekend, a full weekend to myself in over 20 years. So, hey, I’ll tell you this. If you know what, if you are looking to have a family or a significant other, you better lock them in now before you start this stuff. Because once you start, man, your social life is over.”

While Mr. Gerbasi wasn’t being completely literal, he meant every word he said about the grind of being a journalist. He went on to add, “It’s not easy in terms of time management because shit happens at all hours of the night, the morning, and it’s mostly inconvenient. But hey, if this is the path, this is the path. But it’s the guys who do that, who answer the call at 2:00 AM and knock out a story. The guys who are willing to cover those fights when all their friends are out at the bar, those are the ones who make it.”

I then followed up that question by asking what the main criteria is that Mr. Gerbasi looks for when reviewing material by his writers before submission. He simply said, “tell me a story”.

“When it comes to UFC, tell me why I should care about this fighter. We’ve got stories, not just obviously on the main guys and gals on the cards, but we have the first prelim fight, the kids who are up and coming, kids making their debut, and why should I care? And I try to tell when I interview a fighter, and they may not be too into doing interviews, which most of ’em are not, but I try to explain to them that you tell me your story, you tell the public your story.”

Mr. Gerbasi went on to talk about how he has received pieces to edit in the past from writers that were not up to the standard he looks for.

Over the years Mr. Gerbasi has also proven himself to be a skilled and eloquent interviewer. Consequently, I asked Mr. Gerbasi how he prepares for interviews and how he keeps an interviewee comfortable throughout an interview.

“You do this enough, it becomes second nature. But like you said, preparing for it, you got to prepare. You got to know who you’re talking to, why you’re talking to them, and have a basic outline of where you want to go with your story,” said Gerbasi.

To understand what makes a story captivating is a necessary skill to develop as a journalist. Mr. Gerbasi shared what he feels is the most important aspect to cover when telling a story.

He then went on to elaborate on how he treats athletes throughout an interview.

“These are human beings, man, just like you are. And if you treat somebody with respect and keep it, like I said, keep it like a conversation. They’ll respect you back and they’ll open up…this is your job, but it’s their job too, to give the media access. So if you’re both out there doing your job, you’re just a couple guys trying to make a decent living.”

To conclude my conversation with Mr. Gerbasi I asked him what his thoughts were on the advancement of AI and other technologies and how he thinks they might affect the sports media industry.

He replied, “well, I’m not overly concerned about the AI stuff. I am concerned about the written word, getting demolished by all the video and podcasts and all that stuff. But you need to learn that. You need to learn all that stuff…let’s say the boxing thing, let’s say boxing ended tomorrow. I’ve done publicity in boxing. I’ve done digital stuff in terms of making websites and boxing. I know the business, I know every end of this business. And I’m dangerous because I can do more than one thing.”

It appears that transforming into a journalistic Swiss Army knife is essential for maintaining a competitive edge in this field. Mr. Gerbasi provided valuable advice for young journalists like myself as we move forward.

Currently the Editorial Director for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Thomas Gerbasi has covered combat sports for various publications for over 20 years. An award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, his work has also appeared in The Independent, YahooSports.com, The Ring, and ESPN.com. In addition, Mr. Gerbasi was named a part of the 2022 International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame class in the non-boxing category for his work as a journalist covering the sport for many years.

What was supposed to be a short Q & A with Mr. Gerbasi resulted in a close to an hour conversation. Through my experience connecting with Mr. Gerbasi, I learned a lot of valuable lessons. However, none of them felt more important than him telling me to “stay aggressive, because the worst thing someone can say to you is no.” I used to believe that it was almost impossible to get time to speak with an established person in the world of sports journalism. My perspective has changed thanks to Mr. Thomas Gerbasi.