My guest today is Karim Zidan. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Karim is an investigative reporter who works on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for many different publications, from mainstream newspapers like The Guardian to specialized blogs like Right-Wing Watch. Karim writes about many sports, from basketball to boxing, but much of his recent work is on Mixed Martial Arts, and he is one of the managers of Bloody Elbow, the MMA and UFC blog of SB Nation. He tweets at @ZidanSports.
Karim and I talk about the connections between (fight) sports and (far right) politics, from ultras and the Tahir Square revolution, to Saudi Arabia and sportswashing, and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and the far right.