(Why there’s no Hallmark card-esque recording of Buffer shouting his trademarked catchphrase when you open the front cover is beyond me.)
By Jason Moles
From prologue to epilogue, It’s Time! My 360° View of the UFC is a highly entertaining story of BSC: Balls, Skill, and Confidence. From his early childhood in Pennsylvania to his global fame as “The Veteran Voice of the Octagon,” Bruce Buffer‘s success is a direct result of those three things. Without that braggadocious trifecta, I can’t imagine we’d enjoy the same high-octane fighter introductions we do now. Between the hardback covers, you’re treated to an inside look at how Buffer was first introduced to the UFC, what happened when he realized he had a long, lost half-brother who turned out to be famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer, and the brawls that happened outside of the Octagon.
Most fight fans will pick up a copy of this book for one of two reasons, either because they’re a huge Bruce Buffer fan, or they have a particular fondness for any and all backstage dirt and behind-the-scenes access they can get, such as the time Bruce threatened to “beat the living hell” out of a fan. (That’s on page 183, by the way.) If you happen to fit into both categories, boy are you in luck. Buffer’s storytelling style, combined with the fact that you can’t help but read every word in his famous voice, is reminiscent of throwing back a few cold ones with an old friend as you catch up on the highlights of life since you last saw one another.
Of the two dozen chapters, five are dedicated to fighters, one to UFC President Dana White, and one to all the girls he’s loved before. The rest of the autobiography covers his family, early career, what it’s like to be the VVotO™ in general. While I can appreciate Buffer’s desire to communicate his deep love for his family and close friends, I was more excited to hear about the infamous brawl involving Tito Ortiz and Lee Murray and what it was like to find kickboxer Pat Smith “on his knees, tearing up and making sounds like a wounded banshee” after being cold-cocked upon exiting the elevator by one of Tank Abbott’s goons cornermen.
Surprisingly, I found myself scared for Buffer during the section discussing his knee injury. Even as a regular listener of his radio show It’s Time with Bruce Buffer, I never actually realized just how serious it was. Somewhere near the middle of the book, Buffer talks about Dana White and the Fertitta brothers revamping the UFC from top to bottom after they purchased it in 2001, including the entrance ramp. If the knee surgery didn’t go as well as it did, they might have had to re-install it so Burt Watson could roll Buffer to the cage in a wheelchair.
If I’m going to shower praises upon It’s Time!, I’m also going to drop the hammer when necessary. On page 164, Buffer mistakenly writes that Anderson Silva fought Chael Sonnen at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. This is false. The middleweight champion did fight at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, but it was against Demian Maia, not the gangster from West Linn. That fight took place at UFC 117 in Oakland California, but whatever — if you watched Silva vs. Maia live, you’d try to forget it too.
Even after this book enters the championship rounds, you’re still hooked. You keep reading because you’re genuinely enthralled with this man’s story. He’s lived the life most can only dream of. Movie references abound as one ballsy, skillful, confident man retells how he took life by the horns and chased his dream as passionately as any man ever could. To break up the sometimes serious tone, Buffer has tossed in a handful of “Bufferisms” like “Big cheers and no fears forever,” followed by a brief explanation on what it means and how to apply it to your life. But the part your Cracked addicted mind will enjoy the most are his top ten lists like 10 Tips for Surviving a Street Fight and 10 Ways to Bring Class Back to Fighting. God knows we can never have enough lists.
Pick up your copy on Amazon today.