Jimmy Smith Reveals Why UFC Didn’t Re-Sign Him

Jimmy Smith is done with his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) run and he’s taken the time to explain why. Smith signed with the UFC back in Jan. 2018. While some thought Smith would be groomed to eventually take over Joe Rogan’s color c…

Jimmy Smith is done with his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) run and he’s taken the time to explain why. Smith signed with the UFC back in Jan. 2018. While some thought Smith would be groomed to eventually take over Joe Rogan’s color commentary position once he was ready to step back, that obviously isn’t going […]

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UFC Declines To Re-Sign Veteran Broadcaster Jimmy Smith

Last month ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that UFC broadcaster Jimmy Smith would be looking for a new home in 2019. Smith signed a one-year deal with the UFC on January 12, 2018, after seven years with Bellator MMA. However, earlier this morning (Tues. January 1, 2019) Smith took to Twitter to shed light on the […]

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Last month ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that UFC broadcaster Jimmy Smith would be looking for a new home in 2019.

Smith signed a one-year deal with the UFC on January 12, 2018, after seven years with Bellator MMA. However, earlier this morning (Tues. January 1, 2019) Smith took to Twitter to shed light on the situation. He revealed the UFC has declined to re-sign him once his deal expires. He will, in fact, be looking for a new home this year:

“Now that the New Year has arrived I’m afraid I have to announce that the UFC has declined to re-sign me and my time with the promotion has come to an end. I just want to thank everyone at the promotion who made me feel welcome and appreciate at every single show.”

“I tried my utmost to show the fighters the respect they deserved for giving their lives to this sport and hope they felt that when they heard what I had to say.

“The UFC fans were truly amazing and I wish I could thank each and every one of you for your support and even your criticism because it made me strive to be better. Wishing everyone a great 2019 and on to the next fight…Adios Amigos”

The UFC recently decided to bring retired former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping up to their broadcast booth. He’ll join fellow current and former champions such as Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz. Also, UFC lightweight Paul Felder has been doing a great job of calling fights this year as well.

Of course, Jon Anik and Joe Rogan will remain onboard for the time being also With that being said, it will be interesting to see where Smith ends up after a solid run with the UFC. He could always return to Bellator, or perhaps join a thriving up-and-coming promotion like ONE Championship.

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UFC Decides Not To Re-Sign Jimmy Smith

Renowned mixed martial arts commentator Jimmy Smith is done with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). For years, Jimmy Smith was known as the voice of Bellator. While that distinction is usually reserved for the play-by-play announcer, Smith was a…

Renowned mixed martial arts commentator Jimmy Smith is done with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). For years, Jimmy Smith was known as the voice of Bellator. While that distinction is usually reserved for the play-by-play announcer, Smith was able to separate himself as a color commentator much like Joe Rogan has done for the UFC. […]

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Veteran MMA Broadcaster Jimmy Smith Will Be Looking For New Home In 2019

Veteran MMA broadcaster Jimmy Smith will be looking for a new home in 2019 after completing a one-year deal with the UFC. Smith was Bellator MMA’s lead commentary man before signed with the Las Vegas-based promotion on January 12, 2018. He left after a seven-year run with Bellator. The news of Smith becoming a free […]

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Veteran MMA broadcaster Jimmy Smith will be looking for a new home in 2019 after completing a one-year deal with the UFC.

Smith was Bellator MMA’s lead commentary man before signed with the Las Vegas-based promotion on January 12, 2018. He left after a seven-year run with Bellator.

The news of Smith becoming a free agent in early 2019 was first reported by ESPN’S Ariel Helwani.

 
Veteran MMA broadcaster Jimmy Smith will be a free agent come early 2019, sources told ESPN. Smith recently completed a one-year deal with UFC and will now be looking for a new broadcast home next year. He has yet to sign with anyone but is hoping to do so soon, sources say.

As far as where Smith will end up calling fights next year is anyone’s guess. The fact that the UFC hasn’t resigned him yet doesn’t bode well for the veteran broadcaster’s hopes up re-upping with the promotion.

It seems the UFC will look to fill future color commentary roles with former fighters. Just early today former middleweight champion Michael Bisping revealed his new role with the company. Oddly enough the news of Bisping’s new gig comes on the same day Smith announces his eminat departure from the promotion.

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Brendan Schaub Destroys Joe Rogan For UFC 225 Commentary

You probably didn’t expect Joe Rogan to get called out by this source:

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In the week-and-a-half since June 9’s stacked UFC 225 pay-per-view, there’ve been many storylines to emerge from the Chicago-based card, and not many of them have been good.

There was the initial report that the card tanked at the box office by securing less than 150,000 pay-per-view buys, and while that story was eventually refuted and (supposedly) proven wrong, the card ultimately didn’t sell all that well. Then there was the bad blood-filled rivalry between welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and newly-crowned interim champ Colby Covington, which has already become personal in a strange way.

However, one storyline that hasn’t been discussed much until recently is Joe Rogan’s commentary of the awful Mike Jackson vs. CM Punk bout that opened the main card, a fight that drew the collective criticism of the entire mixed martial arts world and earned Punk his release from the promotion.

And that criticism is coming from the most unlikely of sources.

Rogan’s good friend and consistent podcast partner Brendan Schaub recently blasted the longtime color commentator’s choice of words on his “Below the Belt” podcast (via BJPenn.com), decimating Rogan and to a lesser extent, his broadcast partner Jimmy Smith for claiming Jackson had ‘high-level striking’:

“[My other problem] The commentators… Joe Rogan, one of my best friends, my brother. And even Jimmy Smith, those guys. When they would go, ‘Mike Jackson has high-level striking.’

“I think we have to be very careful, very careful not to throw around the term ‘high-level striking’. Trust me, a high-level striker would have beat CM Punk in under 30 seconds. It would not have been a competitive fight if any one of those two had some sort of high-level striking.

“That was the only cringe-worthy night…the only thing that made me go, ‘oh god!’. We got to be careful with that because if you’re a fan and you’re watching that and you go, ‘god, that’s high-level striking?’ No, it’s not.”

While Jackson did outclass the clearly overmatched Punk in the striking department, it appeared he could have finished the fight on the feet on more than one occasion and instead chose to clown around inside of Punk’s guard on the mat.

However, Rogan was not all that praising of Jackson’s skills, at one point even saying he didn’t look like he had the body of a true UFC welterweight and even going as far as to (somewhat jokingly) suggest that Jackson was even paid off to let the fight go on as long as it did.

Perhaps Rogan’s insistence that Schaub should retire from fighting during a shocking scene years ago has “Big Brown” looking to land a counter-jab on his so-called ‘brother’ in the media.

What do you think? Was Rogan’s commentary about Jackson off-base?

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Jon Anik & Jimmy Smith Set to Call Action at UFC 224

There will be a two-man commentary booth for UFC 224. This Saturday night (May 12), UFC 224 takes place inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The prelims will air on UFC Fight Pass and FX. The main card airs live on pay-per-view. It’s …

There will be a two-man commentary booth for UFC 224. This Saturday night (May 12), UFC 224 takes place inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The prelims will air on UFC Fight Pass and FX. The main card airs live on pay-per-view. It’s not often that we get to see UFC color commentator Joe Rogan call a […]

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