Hey everyone,
For those who don’t know me – my name is Brett Appley – I wanted to introduce myself and share a bit of a story as to how I arrived here with WELP.
The short version is that I have a passion for building, both content and community. It’s led me to an awesome job in another niche space, which is Daily Fantasy Sports. More specifically, Mixed Martial Arts Daily Fantasy Sports. I cover MMA fights weekly and give out matchup analysis, projections, DraftKings advice, etc.
It’s a wildly different space than that of the metaverse, and Wilder World. But in many ways, they feel similar to me.
When I arrived on the Daily Fantasy Sports scene, it was brand new. DraftKings didn’t really exist yet and neither did Daily Fantasy MMA. Eventually, DFS and DraftKings picked up steam and in 2015, they decided to launch an MMA product.
At that time, unlike fantasy football (NFL) where there seemed to be hundreds if not thousands of professional writers, in fantasy MMA there were zero. In fact, almost nobody cared at all. Contests were incredibly small, and there was no money to be had in prizes. MMA was in fact still ILLEGAL in the state of New York at that time.
I was still incredibly excited by the potential for Daily Fantasy MMA, and I have a background in journalism, a love for fantasy sports, and some Brazilian jiu-jitsu training, so I decided to give writing a crack.
In the decade that has followed, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness both DFS and DFS MMA grow dramatically. What started for me as a fun side gig turned into a near 10-year professional career. I’ve seen countless players take home life changing money, and I’ve been able to experience the rapid ascension of Mixed Martial Arts firsthand.
Looking back, it was not an easy, nor a simple road. From my end, it was a slow churn.
It was truly thanks to a strong core of players, who were both passionate about MMA and Daily Fantasy Sports that kept the space moving forward. Week after week, we were there in the trenches, many playing the game, some writing about it.
Flash forward five years from the launch of Daily Fantasy MMA to 2020 and COVID – the world was closed down. MMA had already grown dramatically by this point with the rise of Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey and others. The UFC decided to open its gates first and suddenly, there was even more attention on the sport than before. Viewership skyrocketed again, which created many new fans and eventually led to a tipping point on the fantasy side. DraftKings had no choice but to take notice.
As a result of the influx of new fans and attention, in June of 2020, DraftKings was able to post a “Milly Maker” contest where the winner would receive $1 Million in prizes. (Here is my original reaction tweet from that moment lol).
From quite literally having to fight the state of New York for the legal right to participate in the sport of MMA, with just a few hundred dollars in prizes on DK, to world wide attention and $1 Million over the span of a few years. It was a wild run to witness and I’m grateful to have played a small part in the process.
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The story is just a story, but I feel it’s a good one to help explain why I feel comfortable in this space as well. There’s already plenty of attention here, far more than what there was in the DFS MMA space in 2015. But I think many of us see potential for something much larger.
Someday, we may see the Wilder World vision become a reality, and I hope to be a part of that future.
For now, I want to enjoy my time here, and help in any way that I can. I see Wilder World as an incredible creative outlet to build new community experiences, from gaming to sports to designing a crib, and I want to do my best to make a positive impact. WELP is my attempt at that, and I hope you will stick around for the journey.
WELP 