SB Nation Featured Blogs May 2015

When you have something billed as the fight of the century., an NBA playoff run possibly establishing one of the greatest of all-time and one of the world's most marquee franchises all shining in May, the sites covering these topics are rich with opportunity. They seized it and ran with it.

Here are May's featured blogs:

In Aug. 2014, MMA Mania set its all-time traffic record (8.8 million sessions). To start 2015, the site recorded its second (Jan.), third (March) and fifth (Feb.) best all-time traffic totals, all of which were eclipsed before the month of May even expired.

The smashing success, in large part, is attributed to the wall-to-wall coverage of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao "super fight." Staff, realizing the golden opportunity, churned out more than 60 posts in a 72-hour window (most of which can be found here). It was an all hands on deck effort, one that was planned meticulously beforehand and then executed to near-perfection during and after the event with timely reactions and spot-on coverage.

No stone was left un-turned.

Three weeks later, the live events team was back for more, covering UFC 187 with similar aggression and passion. And while it was not a "record" weekend (Mayweather-Pacquiao will be difficult to top), the site and its staff proved that it always delivers top-quality content that combat sports fans want to read — almost 60 stream updates since the start of the pay-per-view (PPV) main card this past Saturday night (most of which can be found here).

All told, MMA Mania staff has churned out more than 520 posts in May 2015 alone (about 19 per day), proving that hard work — in addition to smart planning and incredible execution — pays off ... in spades.

The NBA Playoffs have been both full of exciting moments and plot twists and at the same time predictably scripted. The league's current MVP, Stephen Curry, and the King himself, LeBron James, have led their teams to the NBA Finals and all along the way SB Nation's two team sites have provided outstanding coverage and community for Golden State and Cleveland fans.

The writers and editors at Golden State of Mind and Fear The Sword are to be commended for being both creative, engaging and diligent with their timely coverage over the past six weeks of daily basketball glory. Their reward is the opportunity to bring all stories from the Finals to their readers. Only one of these great communities will get to celebrate the ultimate victory but we are all winners for having witnessed their great work.

The Busby Babe has never found itself of talented writers, but under the new management of Alexander Netherton they've started to tap into some of the potential that has long been there. They've done outstanding work keeping fans informed about the latest transfer rumors, but have set themselves apart from the pack by finding new ways to tell stories. Andi Thomas' look at the best "alternative" goal for United this year was one example and although it proved divisive among their community this post from Twitter alter-ego @lifehack_Neo was a fun read.

It was a great month of sports as reflected in our blogs that achieved incredible heights. Congratulations to all involved.