Chuck Mindenhall
At a glance
- Uncrowned analyst since September 2024
- Worked at The Athletic, MMA Fighting, The Ringer, and ESPN
- Part of The Athletic's founding MMA team in 2019
Overview
Chuck Mindenhall is a journalist and columnist who covers combat sports. He has worked at The Athletic, MMA Fighting, The Ringer, and ESPN. At MMA Fighting, he worked alongside Ariel Helwani.
In 2019 he was part of The Athletic's founding MMA team. In September 2024 he joined Uncrowned as an analyst. Uncrowned is Yahoo Sports' combat sports brand, launched in partnership with Ariel Helwani, and it covers MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. The Athletic's MMA team, launched in 2019, brought together alumni of MMA Junkie, ESPN, MMA Fighting, and Bleacher Report. He announced his move to Uncrowned himself on X in September 2024, as Yahoo Sports unveiled its first hires for the brand.
What you'll find
On Uncrowned you will read his columns and profiles. He writes about fighters, their paths, and what is at stake around major events, in MMA as well as boxing and pro wrestling.
He also appears on The Ariel Helwani Show. On June 16, 2026, he joined the show to react to UFC Freedom 250, the card held at the White House. To keep up with his work day to day, his X account shares his articles and reactions. The Ariel Helwani Show streams on Yahoo Sports. Mindenhall brings a writer's perspective to it, alongside Helwani's interviews with fighters, as he did after UFC Freedom 250 in June 2026.
Why follow
Profiles are at the center of his work. He writes about fighters beyond their records, with their backstory and how they live the job. If you want to know the person behind the fighter, his pieces give you what the results do not show.
His angle is analysis. He has covered MMA for several major newsrooms and places the news within the history of the sport. At Uncrowned he works with Ben Fowlkes and Shaheen Al-Shatti, two more members of The Athletic's founding team.
MMA Official's take
Chuck Mindenhall is a fit for readers who enjoy profiles and long-form storytelling, and for Ariel Helwani Show listeners looking for another take on the news.
Start with his June 16, 2026, appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show about UFC Freedom 250, where you hear his read on a one-of-a-kind event. Then pick one of his Uncrowned profiles of a fighter ahead of a big fight to get a feel for his writing.