Many will know him as ‘the Pink Suit Guy’, but Josh Cohen is a sports reporter who predominantly covers MMA and is a media personality for ESPN South Florida. The Pink Suit Guy lingo stemmed from a UFC press conference for the trilogy of Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor. Josh asked a bold question to Conor regarding his recent MMA record, and Cohen happened to be wearing a vibrant pink blazer when he took to the mic. Since then, Josh has made a few more appearances at UFC Media Days, which have intrigued me about how he’s developed his profile as a journalist and how I think he can maximise impact through his personal brand.
Becoming the ‘Pink Suit Guy’
Since provoking a harsh reaction from Conor McGregor at the UFC264 Press Conference, that moment has propelled him into a meme marketing sensation.
The clip alone has generated over 400k views across YouTube and has been formed into different pieces of content. Combat sports animation artist, Mojahed Fudailat, created a content piece on the exact episode taking place, which accumulated 380k+ YouTube views. Josh also appeared at the UFC268 Press Conference, seeing Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington 2 as the main event. He adopted a similar approach with asking Colby a question which also made Colby retaliate aggressively to the journalist.
Cohen has also been a hot topic across the online MMA community by being the subject of many memes, especially on Twitter. Memes have rapidly become one of the most significant shared pieces of content online. A similar effect happened with Eddie Hearn becoming recognised through the ‘No Context Hearn’ Twitter account amongst casual combat sports fans. Josh could utilise this opportunity to give his reactions to certain memes, which opens further engagement with new audiences and brand awareness.
Despite Cohen receiving backlash about his controversial journalistic style, he’s spotted an opportunity to form a Cameo account that could provide a monetisation avenue from his 11k+ social media followers. Cameo is a platform where many other athletes such as Floyd Mayweather, Lisa Leslie and Isiah Thomas have signed up to share personalised video messages with their fans for a fee. Despite Josh not having the reach that these athletes possess, it’s an initiative that could prove lucrative as he builds his personal brand.
The Lover and The Fighter Podcast
Josh has collaborated with UFC pioneer Din Thomas to create ‘The Lover and The Fighter Podcast’. The two MMA journalists cover pre-fight build-ups fighter focus sessions alongside hot topics across the UFC community.
As a reporter, it’s vital to offer different avenues to your audience to check out your content. Most of Josh’s followers will likely solely recognise him as the ‘the pink suit guy at UFC264’. The fact he co-owns a podcast with Din could be beneficial for legitimising his name in the MMA community rather than being purely known for a moment that went viral.
To summarise, Josh has become a hot topic across MMA through his viral UFC264 press conference moment. Since then, he’s capitalised on increasing brand awareness and has even more opportunities to grow a niche micro-community of combat sports fans.
Sharing lessons sports professionals can learn through sports content 