"When boxing gets it right — with its big events — there’s nothing like it in any sport." Q&A with Insider's combat sports correspondent, Alan Dawson

To help our readers get to know the people that power our newsroom, we host live Twitter conversations called #TheInsideStory on our @InsiderInc account with reporters and editors from our Business, Life, and News sections.

We recently caught up with Alan Dawson, combat sports correspondent at Insider, who covers boxing, MMA, and other fight sports. During our conversation, he spoke about his career path, highlights from his reporting, and his recent move from the UK to the US, including what he’s most excited to dig into now that he’s in the US. Be sure to follow Alan on Twitter @AlanDawsonSport and check out his most recent Insider articles.

Thanks for hanging out with us today! Let’s kick-off this off with you telling us about your role at Insider.

Thank you for having me! I’m Insider’s combat sports correspondent which means I write about boxing, MMA, and other fight sports. 

I cover news, interview interesting characters in this weird, wild, and wonderful industry, and also report on live events on the scene, and have traveled on assignment in Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. 

It’s not a bad gig!

With the good in the sport, also comes the bad, and I cover this, too. For example, I’m known in the media and combat sports industries for investigating a powerful boxing figure called Daniel Kinahan, who is the suspected figurehead of a $1 billion drugs and weapons cartel.

We have published almost 20,000 words on this for Insider, and it is work that has been praised by politicians in multiple countries, as well as awards providers around the world.

See more: https://www.insider.com/category/daniel-kinahan

What a fascinating story! When did you first decide to pursue a career in journalism?

I’ve always wanted to write, and even as a kid I gravitated more towards English literature, language, and creative writing classes. 

And so I’m blessed to be able to use that passion in my day-to-day life, and get paid for it.

What were you doing before joining the team at Insider? Tell us a bit about your background.

I got my first job in media around 2009, working as a soccer reporter for the world’s biggest football-only website http://Goal.com.

In 2015, I joined BT Sport — a national broadcaster in the UK — and worked on multiple sports like soccer, tennis, and MMA.

Then, in 2017 I found the role of my life as I joined the Insider team in the UK. I was the first sports reporter in that newsroom. 

I’ve been promoted twice since then, from a reporter to a senior reporter, and then to a correspondent.

Earlier this year, the company relocated my young family and I to Las Vegas, to further entrench our publication into the combat sports communities that are so prevalent here, and Los Angeles.

There's nowhere I'd rather be.

Such a cool career path! What does a typical day working at Insider look like for you?

Like most normal people, I wake up and I scroll Twitter before saying hello to my family. After coffee, I start to feel human and can tolerate the day.

Then I hit the news, contact people I want to be speaking to on or off-record for stories, and create action plans for how I want to cover events I’ll be attending that weekend.

This isn’t really a 9 to 5. So I try to break during the day at some point to enjoy the sun, and do something with my family, working mostly early in the morning, and then again at night.

Where do you find inspiration for your stories?  

That’s easy. Insider!

One of the greatest assets we have at our publication is a wealth of super talented journalists who excel across politics, tech, and digital culture, amongst other beats.

Seeing the awesome work my colleagues publish inspires me to look at what I can do.

Love that! You shared earlier that you relocated from the UK to the US, where you’ll cover the American boxing and MMA scene in greater detail. What are you most excited to dig into now that you’re in the US?

Being within a short drive of the UFC, a multi-billion dollar sports business in MMA, Top Rank boxing, Mayweather Promotions , and then the fighting gyms here in Vegas, is extraordinarily valuable to my work as a reporter in this business.

In LA, we’ve got Bellator @bellatormma, Golden Boy @GoldenBoyBoxing, and again, many gyms.

For many weekends coming up I’ll be with these firms, providing readers with insights and observations from their events and their athletes.

That’s something I’ve been excited about for years.

I can’t wait to dig in, and report about the next combat sports superstar.

We can’t wait to read those stories, either. While at Insider, you’ve traveled on assignment throughout Europe, the UAE, and the US. Do you have a favorite destination to cover combat sports?

Aside from my new hometown in Vegas, it's got to be Ireland.

I received my first foreign assignment in 2019, covering Bellator in Dublin.

Peter Queally’s walkouts, in front of his own fans, remain one of the most magical things you can see from press row.

You cover the fight sports industries from all angles at Insider. In your opinion, what are the most interesting storylines and trends happening in MMA and boxing right now?  

Daniel Kinahan is one of the most powerful people in boxing, the suspected figurehead of a criminal enterprise, and reportedly wanted by law enforcement agencies around the world.

It is interesting because very few in media outside Kinahan’s native Ireland report on it.

On a positive note, I am fascinated by youth in sport.

There’s little more exciting, to me, than seeing young men and women become better fighters and achieve their wildest dreams.

We’ve got a lot of young fighters who can carry boxing and MMA forward in the coming years.

That’ll be really interesting to watch! Which of your stories for Insider are you the most proud of and why?

I love the stuff I do on the ground, at an assignment — whether that’s a profile on Jorge Masvidal when I first went to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi in the middle of a pandemic, or charting the ongoing trials and tribulations of Conor McGregor whenever he returns to the cage.

When boxing gets it right — with its big events — there’s nothing like it in any sport. NFL, soccer, tennis … forget it.

And being so close to the action at a gripping fight like Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury 2 in Las Vegas becomes memories I’ll look back fondly on forever.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start a career in journalism?

To do it! It took a while for my career to get to where I wanted it, but there’s nothing I’d rather do, and no company I’d rather be at. It’s fulfilling, varies every day, and I never wake up with a bad case of the Mondays (unless we’re out of coffee, then Mondays suck).

Last question! What do you love most about working at Insider?

Our brilliant colleagues who make this publication what it is — something big, that is read by hundreds of millions of people around the world every month.