The changes within Bellator MMA continue. Play-by-play announcer Sean Grande will no longer be with the promotion as he has announced that he will give up his position ahead of the promotion’s New York City pay-per-view later this month. He sent a long letter to MMA Fighting to announce his departure and the reasons for it and teased a big name or two as his replacement.
As seen in the letter, he cites his son and other job as the NBA’s Boston Celtics’ radio voice as the primary issues that resulted in his departure. He brought up how those issues were conflicted with Bellator’s increasingly busy schedule. Grande made it clear that he tried to make everything work but after a period of time, it was too much for him.
“And as a casual, internal discussion ramped up, there was just no geographic, logistical math that said I could keep up that pace. Have no illusions. I didn’t, I don’t want to walk away. Certainly not today. I was ready, willing and wanting to continue on, as I promised you I would two years ago. My first choice would certainly have been to stay with the Celtics while doing as many Bellator shows as I was physically and contractually able. But two things were becoming clear. One, the new Bellator schedule with its heavy Fall/Winter and international leanings were in direct, overwhelming conflict with the NBA. And two, I think we all agreed that the new Bellator, the 2017 Bellator has grown to the point it deserves a voice, maybe even more than one, that can make it his (or her) top priority.
A couple of MMA play-by-play veterans who recently ended up on the waiver wire, greatly helped me find peace with this. You’ll be in good hands, and I have a hunch old-school fans are really going to have a blast.”
Of course, this has sparked speculation that Bellator MMA would bring in longtime UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg, who was forced out of the promotion after the purchase of the company by WME-IMG. The other name that has been floating around is Mauro Ranallo, who was the voice of Strikeforce on Showtime and also continues to cover boxing for the network. Although he did sign with WWE in December of 2015, he has since left the company after 16 months of work on SmackDown Live.
We will be finding out who his replacement is as their biggest event ever is set to take place on June 24th. The promotion is expected to reveal his replacement shortly. Bellator NYC will be headlined by a grudge match between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva, with Fedor Emelianenko fighting Matt Mitrione in the co-main event.
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