Shaquille O’Neal built DUNKMAN to prove that dunking deserves to be treated as its own sport, not just a highlight-reel afterthought. Since launching with TNT Sports earlier this year, the league has delivered exactly that: a genuine professional circuit built around the athletes who can jump higher, and do more with that height, than anyone else on earth. But as DUNKMAN barrels toward its August 25 world championship on TNT and HBO Max, one of the loudest voices talking about the league isn’t in the competitor pool. It’s Ellie Blue — model, influencer, competitive fighter, fashion designer, and philanthropist — who showed up to a DUNKMAN qualifying event, walked away stunned, and hasn’t stopped talking about it since.
A front-row seat to something she’d never seen before
Ellie Blue has built a career on being in rooms most people only see from a distance — Miami Swim Week, New York Fashion Week runways, MMA gyms, red carpets. DUNKMAN, she says, still managed to catch her off guard.
“Attending DUNKMAN was honestly one of the most incredible sporting events I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “I’ve always known dunking takes an insane amount of athleticism, but seeing these athletes perform at this level in person gave me an entirely new appreciation for the sport.”
That appreciation only deepened as the event went on. DUNKMAN’s format pushes competitors well past the traditional dunk contest — cars, people, and ladders have all been used as literal obstacles to clear — and Ellie says watching that in person changed how she thinks about the sport entirely. “Watching these guys jump over cars, people and ladders, and seeing how every athlete had his own completely different style and approach to dunking, was unbelievable,” she said. “There were moments where I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was watching. The height they get, the control they have in the air, and the creativity behind these dunks make you realize these guys aren’t just great dunkers — they are world-class athletes.”
It’s not an offhand compliment. DUNKMAN’s roster includes Darius Clark, who broke the world record for vertical jump this July with a staggering 53-inch leap — the kind of number that turns a dunk contest into a legitimate athletic proving ground. Ellie’s reaction tracks with how the sports world has responded to the league since it launched: this isn’t a novelty act. It’s professional sports with a new set of records still being written in real time.
Beyond the athleticism, what stuck with Ellie was the stakes. DUNKMAN athletes aren’t just performing — they’re competing for a $500,000 grand prize and the DUNKMAN World Champion title, and Ellie says that competitive charge was impossible to miss courtside.
“I also loved how competitive the entire event felt,” she said. “These athletes are pushing the limits of what people think is physically possible, while competing for the opportunity to become a DUNKMAN World Champion. Being able to experience that energy firsthand made me even more excited for the championship.”
A model, an athlete, and now a believer in a brand-new sport
Ellie’s own background makes her an unusually credible hype woman for a sport built on physical extremes. Long before Mariella Swimwear — the brand she launched in 2021 after growing frustrated with the swimwear options available to working models, and which now donates 10% of every sale to charity — Ellie was a competitive fighter, training in boxing, MMA, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. She’s talked openly about how that training shaped her relationship with her body and her mental health, and it’s part of why her read on DUNKMAN carries more weight than the average front-row influencer take: she knows what elite physical training actually looks like from the inside.
That same instinct for building something from scratch shows up in Ellie’s Angels, the youth-focused nonprofit she founded in 2025 to support kids facing adversity — a project she says is rooted in the belief that “everyone has a place where they belong.” Between the swimwear brand, the charity, and a modeling career that’s taken her from Jupiter, Florida beaches to Miami Swim Week runways, Ellie has made a habit of showing up early to things and building a real presence around them. DUNKMAN, by her own account, is the newest addition to that list — and she’s making no secret of wanting to be part of where the league goes next.
Don’t miss the finals
For Ellie, the qualifying event was only a preview of what’s coming. “I cannot wait to see who takes home the title,” she said. “If the championship is anything like what I witnessed at the qualifying event, people are going to be blown away. I definitely want everyone to tune in, because DUNKMAN is bringing something completely different to professional sports, and I truly believe this is only the beginning.”
The DUNKMAN World Championship airs August 25 on TNT and HBO Max, with the winner walking 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 field built to push the sport into territory it’s never been in before, DUNKMAN has already proven it belongs on the biggest stage in sports television. If Ellie Blue’s reaction to the qualifying rounds is any indication, the finals won’t just be a dunk contest — they’ll be appointment viewing.
