Mar 27, 2011 - 3:11:16 PM

By Wade Keller, Supervising Editor

Every couple years we add to our staff of columnists and contributors. If you have strong writing and editing skills, excellent MMA knowledge and passion, and the time necessary to write a weekly column reliably on deadline, then you are invited to apply to become a volunteer columnist on our team.

Please send two or three column samples that you believe are "ready to publish" (i.e. no more editing needed). The columns should be in the range of 600-1,200 words each.

Also include a few sentences detailing your qualifications including any formal writing training, previous published work, first-hand MMA knowledge, how long you've followed the sport, books you've read on the sport, etc.

If you believe rather than writing a general weekly opinion column on current events you have an area of specialty you'd prefer to write about on a weekly basis, you might be a better fit for our "Specialists" team of writers. Let us know what area of specialty you would like to focus on. Otherwise, we are looking for general columnists to react to news events of the week.

Please assert a strong point of view or thesis at the start of your column followed by supporting arguments in the following paragraphs.

MMATorch editors will review submissions and get back to those who appear to be serious candidates to join our team.

Send to: mmatorch@gmail.com

Just send the columns in the body of the email text. Do not send attachments. Just separate each writing sample with a few blank lines. Include your bio/background qualifications info at the top of the email.

Thanks, and we look forward to reviewing your writing samples! Please be patient as we could get back to you as soon as the same day, or depending on our schedules, we may not get back to qualified applications for a week or so.

ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.