Shaquille O’Neal constructed DUNKMAN to show that dunking deserves to be handled as its personal sport, not only a highlight-reel afterthought. Since launching with TNT Sports activities earlier this yr, the league has delivered precisely that: a real skilled circuit constructed across the athletes who can bounce larger, and do extra with that peak, than anybody else on earth. However as DUNKMAN barrels towards its August 25 world championship on TNT and HBO Max, one of many loudest voices speaking concerning the league isn’t within the competitor pool. It’s Ellie Blue — mannequin, influencer, aggressive fighter, clothier, and philanthropist — who confirmed as much as a DUNKMAN qualifying occasion, walked away surprised, and hasn’t stopped speaking about it since.
A front-row seat to one thing she’d by no means seen earlier than
Ellie Blue has constructed a profession on being in rooms most individuals solely see from a distance — Miami Swim Week, New York Vogue Week runways, MMA gyms, crimson carpets. DUNKMAN, she says, nonetheless managed to catch her off guard.
“Attending DUNKMAN was actually one of the crucial unimaginable sporting occasions I’ve ever skilled,” she stated. “I’ve all the time identified dunking takes an insane quantity of athleticism, however seeing these athletes carry out at this degree in individual gave me a wholly new appreciation for the game.”
That appreciation solely deepened because the occasion went on. DUNKMAN’s format pushes opponents nicely previous the standard dunk contest — vehicles, individuals, and ladders have all been used as literal obstacles to clear — and Ellie says watching that in individual modified how she thinks concerning the sport completely. “Watching these guys bounce over vehicles, individuals and ladders, and seeing how each athlete had his personal utterly totally different type and method to dunking, was unbelievable,” she stated. “There have been moments the place I genuinely couldn’t imagine what I used to be watching. The peak they get, the management they’ve within the air, and the creativity behind these dunks make you notice these guys aren’t simply nice dunkers — they’re world-class athletes.”
It’s not an offhand praise. DUNKMAN’s roster contains Darius Clark, who broke the world report for vertical bounce this July with a staggering 53-inch leap — the sort of quantity that turns a dunk contest right into a reliable athletic proving floor. Ellie’s response tracks with how the sports activities world has responded to the league because it launched: this isn’t a novelty act. It’s skilled sports activities with a brand new set of information nonetheless being written in actual time.
Past the athleticism, what caught with Ellie was the stakes. DUNKMAN athletes aren’t simply performing — they’re competing for a $500,000 grand prize and the DUNKMAN World Champion title, and Ellie says that aggressive cost was inconceivable to overlook courtside.
“I additionally beloved how aggressive the complete occasion felt,” she stated. “These athletes are pushing the boundaries of what individuals assume is bodily potential, whereas competing for the chance to change into a DUNKMAN World Champion. Having the ability to expertise that vitality firsthand made me much more excited for the championship.”
A mannequin, an athlete, and now a believer in a brand-new sport
Ellie’s personal background makes her an unusually credible hype lady for a sport constructed on bodily extremes. Lengthy earlier than Mariella Swimwear — the model she launched in 2021 after rising annoyed with the swimwear choices accessible to working fashions, and which now donates 10% of each sale to charity — Ellie was a aggressive fighter, coaching in boxing, MMA, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. She’s talked overtly about how that coaching formed her relationship together with her physique and her psychological well being, and it’s a part of why her learn on DUNKMAN carries extra weight than the common front-row influencer take: she is aware of what elite bodily coaching truly appears like from the within.
That very same intuition for constructing one thing from scratch exhibits up in Ellie’s Angels, the youth-focused nonprofit she based in 2025 to help youngsters dealing with adversity — a undertaking she says is rooted within the perception that “everybody has a spot the place they belong.” Between the swimwear model, the charity, and a modeling profession that’s taken her from Jupiter, Florida seashores to Miami Swim Week runways, Ellie has made a behavior of exhibiting up early to issues and constructing an actual presence round them. DUNKMAN, by her personal account, is the latest addition to that record — and he or she’s making no secret of eager to be a part of the place the league goes subsequent.
Don’t miss the finals
For Ellie, the qualifying occasion was solely a preview of what’s coming. “I can’t wait to see who takes dwelling the title,” she stated. “If the championship is something like what I witnessed on the qualifying occasion, persons are going to be blown away. I positively need everybody to tune in, as a result of DUNKMAN is bringing one thing utterly totally different to skilled sports activities, and I really imagine that is solely the start.”
The DUNKMAN World Championship airs August 25 on TNT and HBO Max, with the winner strolling away with the $500,000 grand prize and the league’s first World Champion title. Between Darius Clark’s record-breaking vertical and a 24-athlete subject constructed to push the game into territory it’s by no means been in earlier than, DUNKMAN has already confirmed it belongs on the largest stage in sports activities tv. If Ellie Blue’s response to the qualifying rounds is any indication, the finals received’t simply be a dunk contest — they’ll be appointment viewing.
