Current audio, podcast archives, guest appearances, and press features that show the range around the reporting.
Bando’s Breakdowns is the active solo show. The MMA Outsiders archive captures Zain’s combat-sports co-host work with the Empty The Bench Network.
A solo show built on prep, not hot takes — conversation-style episodes covering the week’s biggest stories across college football, the four major leagues, combat sports, and postseason races.
UFC, Bellator, PFL, and the regional scene — previewed, recapped, and put in context across the show’s 2023-2025 run. Less hype, more reporting.
Fight Capital Global
With Ryan Vevon Rapaport — on the highs and lows of freelance, the importance of being on-site, and journalism’s role in shaping the MMA narrative.
2024
Fight Capital Newsletter #34
Featured alongside Tracey Lesetar-Smith and Xander Simms in a deep-dive newsletter on what’s actually fueling combat sports’ global expansion.
2024
BTN Student U
College-era contributions to the Big Ten Network’s student desk during my time at the University of Illinois.
2018 – 2022
Selected features in regional and national outlets that have profiled my path into sports journalism.
The News-Gazette
An early profile on building a sports-journalism career while living with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy — a story that still shapes how I report on others.
BroBible
A national write-up of a moment that’s become part of my Illini story — the kind of viral that matters because of the room it was in.
Medill School (Northwestern)
One of 10 Medill Sports students chosen to cover Super Bowl LVII Media Week in Phoenix — including media availability, the Fan Experience, and game-week reporting.
Available for guest spots on combat sports, college athletics, and sports media topics — including freelance journalism and disability in the sports industry.
