Jan 2025 — Present
Resilience Media
Freelance Writer / Editor — Big Ten
Returned to The Sporting News under Resilience Media. Lead editor and publisher across the Big Ten football and men’s basketball verticals.
I’m Zain Bando — a freelance sports journalist based in the Chicago area, covering combat sports (MMA / boxing), collegiate athletics, and the four major leagues. I hold a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern’s Medill School (Sports Media specialization, ’23) and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (’22).
Over the last four-plus years, I’ve produced reporting and columns for The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, MMA Knockout, Field Level Media, Men’s Journal, FanSided, Yardbarker, Mike Farrell Sports, BJPenn.com, and Inside NU. The work has taken me from Super Bowl LVII Media Week in Phoenix to fight night at the United Center for UFC 319, with Final Four, March Madness, the 2023 ReliaQuest Bowl, and Illinois and Northwestern football and men’s basketball coverage in between.
I treat every subject as a person before a stat line. The fight, the box score, the bracket — those are the surface. The story underneath is always human: the work nobody watched, the doubt that didn’t make the broadcast, the hour after the camera left.
That orientation isn’t abstract for me. I’ve lived with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy my whole life. Sports opened doors I couldn’t walk through, and they taught me how to listen for the part of a story that doesn’t shout. I bring that into every interview.
The result is reporting that’s sourced, fast, and steady — AP-style ready, accountable to editors, and built to land on deadline.
Jan 2025 — Present
Resilience Media
Returned to The Sporting News under Resilience Media. Lead editor and publisher across the Big Ten football and men’s basketball verticals.
Oct 2025 — Present
BIGPLAY
Covering Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns for their respective On SI channels.
Jul 2024 — Present
Field Level Media
Recap nearly every UFC event, preview all non-Vegas pay-per-views, and contribute occasional boxing and NCAA hoops coverage across the Big Ten, Big East, SEC, and Big 12.
Oct 2023 — Present
MMA Knockout
Sunday post-fight fallout and weekday columns on UFC, Bellator, PFL, and regional events. Credentialed for UFC since December 2023; covered UFC 319 in Chicago on-site (Aug 2025), plus PFL Chicago in 2024 and 2025.
Jul 2022 — Present
Empty The Bench Network
Co-host of The MMA Outsiders; host of Bando’s Breakdowns, a weekly show on college, pro, and combat sports airing Fridays at 3 PM ET.
Earlier
Various outlets
Sports Illustrated, Athlon Sports, Bridge Media Networks, FanSided, Yardbarker, IlliniGuys, Men’s Journal, Mike Farrell Sports, BJPenn.com, Inside NU, Medill Reports Chicago, The Daily Illini, NewsNet Media.
2022 – 2023
M.S. Journalism, Sports Media Specialization · 3.8 GPA
Medill School · Inside NU, MSJ Student Ambassadors, NU Wildside
2018 – 2022
B.S. Journalism, Minor in Recreation, Sport & Tourism · 3.6 GPA
WPGU’s Rollin’ Illini, BTN Student U, Fighting Illini Productions, BRSS, ISCA, DREAM @ UIUC
Medill Explores — Super Bowl LVII
Selected as one of 10 Medill Sports students to cover Super Bowl LVII Media Week in Phoenix · Nov 2022
William A. Olson Scholarship
College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois · Mar 2022
M.S. Journalism, Northwestern
Awarded September 2023 · Specialization in Sports Media
Featured by The News-Gazette & BroBible
Profiles on building a sports-journalism career while living with cerebral palsy