After a brief absence due to illness, Mike Goldberg will be back in his regular broadcast duties alongside Joe Rogan at UFC on Fox 6.
UFC officials confirmed Goldberg’s return to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday.
In short, come next Saturday, the little eagle will soar again. Precisions, they will be precise. Books, they will be taken out of other people’s chapters. Japanese and Portuguese will combine into one beautiful, indistinguishable language. So prepare yourselves, Potato Nation, for a great deluge of cliched phrases and verbal diarrhea is coming.
(“Hey Joe, now that I’ve put the kibosh on those pesky Adderall rumors…wanna do some blow?”)
After a brief absence due to illness, Mike Goldberg will be back in his regular broadcast duties alongside Joe Rogan at UFC on Fox 6.
UFC officials confirmed Goldberg’s return to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday.
In short, come next Saturday, the little eagle will soar again. Precisions, they will be precise. Books, they will be taken out of other people’s chapters. Japanese and Portuguese will combine into one beautiful, indistinguishable language. So prepare yourselves, Potato Nation, for a great deluge of cliched phrases and verbal diarrhea is coming.
Personally, I quite enjoyed the Anik/Rogan pairing at UFC 155, but will welcome Goldberg’s intensity back with open arms. I don’t know, there’s just something about the way the dude screams “IT IS ALL OVER!” that takes the average knockout/submission and kicks it up a notch, like a shot of Sriracha in your BBQ sauce, or whiskey in your Cheerios. Am I alone on this one?
With 2012 mercifully coming to an end, you had to imagine that at least one more fighter would be taken off of the year’s final card due to the great injury curse. Sure enough, at the last possible second a key member of UFC 155 has been removed from the card, causing the organization to scramble to find an adequate replacement. Okay, he’s not a fighter – and he’s not even a casualty of the injury curse – but damn it, this year has been brutal for last-second withdrawals.
Veteran announcer Mike Goldberg will not be calling the fights tonight at UFC 155. Originally, his absence from tonight’s event was attributed to an illness, but it turns out that this isn’t quite the case. Via MMAJunkie:
UFC President Dana White on Friday confirmed the change to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) but could not offer specifics into the situation or when Goldberg is expected to return to his post.
“He’s taking time off and is not working this weekend,” White said. “I don’t know when he will be back.
With 2012 mercifully coming to an end, you had to imagine that at least one more fighter would be taken off of the year’s final card due to the great injury curse. Sure enough, at the last possible second a key member of UFC 155 has been removed from the card, causing the organization to scramble to find an adequate replacement. Okay, he’s not a fighter – and he’s not even a casualty of the injury curse – but damn it, this year has been brutal for last-second withdrawals.
Veteran announcer Mike Goldberg will not be calling the fights tonight at UFC 155. Originally, his absence from tonight’s event was attributed to an illness, but it turns out that this isn’t quite the case. Via MMAJunkie:
UFC President Dana White on Friday confirmed the change to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) but could not offer specifics into the situation or when Goldberg is expected to return to his post.
“He’s taking time off and is not working this weekend,” White said. “I don’t know when he will be back.
White declined to offer any specifics on the reason for Goldberg’s leave.
Damn, that doesn’t exactly sound promising. Hopefully he’s not going through anything too serious, but from the looks of things, he won’t be back any time soon. While it’s possible that his sabbatical is a sign that he’s on his way out of the UFC, we’ll hold off on the tribute until more information becomes available.
Stepping in on short notice to join Joe Rogan will be B-Team announcer Jon Anik. Anik, who usually calls the fights on FX and FUEL TV alongside Kenny Florian, will be making his UFC PPV debut. Assuming he doesn’t completely drop the ball tonight, the position is his for the foreseeable future.
Thank Science, the UFC’s six week drought is finally coming to an end. After Alexander Gustafsson and Thiago Silva throw down at this weekend’s UFC on FUEL event in Sweden, Rashad Evans will finally get the chance to slay the metaphorical white whale, that has long alluded him when he takes on former friend/current foe Jon Jones at UFC 145. These two have been going at it for what seems like years now, and when the pair sat down alongside Jon Anik on a recent episode of Ultimate Insider, things got heated rather quickly.
It all started (at least this time) when Anik brought up Greg Jackson, who will in fact be cornering Jones against Evans come April 21st. Ever since Evans departed from Team Jackson, let’s just say that he and Greg haven’t been on the best of terms. Or even speaking terms, for that matter. Jones, however, feels that the rift between them is mainly due to Evans constant bashing of the very camp he helped build. Here’s what he began to say:
Greg, he said, basically, Rashad is always welcome back. You know, Rashad will always be like a brother to me. You know, he spoke so highly of Rashad. On numerous occasions, he really did everything he could to keep some type of rapport.
Evans quickly chimed in, “He did everything, but he didn’t even give me a call and talk to me. He did everything but couldn’t do the simplest thing.”
Jones brushed off the remark, stating, “On the other hand, you have Rashad, who’s bashing the program and the history -”
It was at this point that Rashad all but flew off the handle, claiming that he was Team Jackson’s history, and that Jones was basically just riding on his coattails. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Anik tried to remain calm while cautiously scanning the Ultimate Insider studio for someone big enough to separate these two if need be, because it sure as shit wasn’t going to be him.
Check out the full video after the jump.
(So wait, it ISN’T casual Friday?)
Thank Science, the UFC’s six week drought is finally coming to an end. After Alexander Gustafsson and Thiago Silva throw down at this weekend’s UFC on FUEL event in Sweden, Rashad Evans will finally get the chance to slay the metaphorical white whale, that has long alluded him when he takes on former friend/current foe Jon Jones at UFC 145. These two have been going at it for what seems like years now, and when the pair sat down alongside Jon Anik on a recent episode of Ultimate Insider, things got heated rather quickly.
It all started (at least this time) when Anik brought up Greg Jackson, who will in fact be cornering Jones against Evans come April 21st. Ever since Evans departed from Team Jackson, let’s just say that he and Greg haven’t been on the best of terms. Or even speaking terms, for that matter. Jones, however, feels that the rift between them is mainly due to Evans constant bashing of the very camp he helped build. Here’s what he began to say:
Greg, he said, basically, Rashad is always welcome back. You know, Rashad will always be like a brother to me. You know, he spoke so highly of Rashad. On numerous occasions, he really did everything he could to keep some type of rapport.
Evans quickly chimed in, “He did everything, but he didn’t even give me a call and talk to me. He did everything but couldn’t do the simplest thing.”
Jones brushed off the remark, stating, “On the other hand, you have Rashad, who’s bashing the program and the history -”
It was at this point that Rashad all but flew off the handle, claiming that he was Team Jackson’s history, and that Jones was basically just riding on his coattails. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Anik tried to remain calm while cautiously scanning the Ultimate Insider studio for someone big enough to separate these two if need be, because it sure as shit wasn’t going to be him.
“The history?!” Evans interrupted:
I made that history! What are you talking about? I’m the one who helped make that history! You’re the one who came into it. You came into it! Don’t talk about the history, when you have no roots in the history! Don’t talk about — I helped make Greg Jackson! I helped make him the reason why you even wanted to come there and train. So, don’t talk to me about the history of the team, bro! Don’t talk to me about the history of the program because, motherf*cker, I made that program.
Jones kept his cool, firing back that “There’s more to Jackson’s than the four or five or six UFC fighters that’s on the program. It’s the kids who aren’t in the UFC.”
We gotta say, this is perhaps the most fluent and composed we have seen Jones in an interview scenario. Sure, it sounded a little weird when he declared that all of the non-UFC fighters in Team Jackson “loved him” and that “it was his team now,” but he managed to turn nearly all of Evans’ words against him like a seasoned trash-talker.
Take the following verbal exchange for instance, which came after Evans claimed he “already knew” what Team Jackson was going to tell Jones to do in the cage. When Jones replied that the only weapons Evans possessed were his right hand and his wrestling, Evans thought he had the end all response, but was instantly shut down:
Evans – “Jon, you just showed me why exactly you’re going to lose.”
Jones – “Why’s that?”
Evans- “‘Cause you think you know.”
Jones – “And you think you know. You just said that. Yo, you’re weird, bro.”
Point – Jones
The fact is, no matter what Evans claims to have in his arsenal that he hasn’t displayed in some 14 UFC fights, it is undoubtedly true that Jones brings more diversity to the table than he does. And for Evans to state that he knows what someone as inventive as Jones is going to do seems a little ludicrous, especially when Jones was spot on in his analysis of Evans.
To be fair, Evans made some great points when it came to the somewhat questionable loyalty of Greg Jackson’s gym, using Carlos Condit as a prime example:
That’s why I feel so disrespected. It’s like, ‘So, now Greg, you’re gonna go against me? You’re gonna go against me, right? You gonna go against Georges St. Pierre? Oh, okay. You gonna bring in Carlos Condit? He helped make you too. So where does your loyalty lie?’ So, if you’re gonna go against the people that helped make you, and I was somebody like in Jon’s position, I’d be like, ‘Man, if he’ll go against some people that were with him, to help him get his notoriety, to help him get where he is, then damn, what would he do to me?’
Point – Evans.
We haven’t been treated to a grudge match this intense in quite some time, so if you’re not planning on ordering, stealing, or watching UFC 145 from your neighbor’s apartment via a pair of binoculars, it’s safe to say that you’ll be missing out. We haven’t prodded you on this particular match for at least a week, so who you got for this one?
Filed under: UFCThe work done inside the Octagon at the first-ever UFC on FX event Friday night was good, but before I get to that I’d like to take a moment to praise the work done behind the microphone.
The work done inside the Octagon at the first-ever UFC on FX event Friday night was good, but before I get to that I’d like to take a moment to praise the work done behind the microphone.
Jon Anik, doing live play-by-play in the UFC for the first time, was a breath of fresh air. And UFC fighter Kenny Florian was a solid color commentator alongside Anik. This is a pairing that should grow together (they already have chemistry from working together on ESPN’s MMA Live) and provide an authoritative pair of voices on UFC broadcasts.
Anik, in particular, is worthy of praise. He’s well-prepared, knowledgeable and informative. Anik is smoother and more direct in his delivery than Mike Goldberg, the UFC’s longtime in-house play-by-play man, and he seemed better able to work background information about the fighters into the flow of the fight, whereas Goldberg sometimes comes across as though he’s forcing it.
If Anik continues to grow as a play-by-play man, he’s going to be an excellent addition to UFC broadcasts. He has a natural feel for the flow of a fight, a good voice, and an understanding of the sport and how to describe the action. On Day One as a UFC play-by-play man, I already prefer him to Goldberg.
In addition to play-by-play, Anik handled the post-fight interviews on Friday night, and there he seemed a little bit out of his element. At times in the post-fight interviews I thought Anik ventured too far out of the commentator role and into fan territory, with comments like telling Josh Neer, “Your chin is unreal, dude.” Although Anik is a UFC employee, I believe he’ll better serve the audience if he comes across as more of a straight shooter and less of a promoter.
As for Anik’s on-air partner, Florian is at his best when he’s telling viewers why a fighter is doing what he’s doing. For instance, when Daniel Roberts had Charlie Brenneman in a guillotine choke on the ground, and Brenneman escaped by turning away from it, Florian did a good job of explaining what Brenneman was doing.
“Immediately you can see Brenneman countered that guillotine choke by going to the far side,” Florian said. “Going to the opposite side of that arm, that is the way you want to counter.”
Lots of fighters know enough Brazilian jiu jitsu to know that, but what makes Florian good on TV is that he’s eloquent enough to explain it quickly and clearly while it’s happening. I also liked Florian’s work on Friday night because I never got the sense that he had friends or favorites among the fighters inside the cage, which isn’t always the case with fighters who work as commentators.
Ultimately, we don’t tune in to a UFC broadcast — or any other sports broadcast — because of the announcers. We tune in because of the athletes. But we hope the commentators will entertain and inform us while we’re watching. Anik and Florian did that well.
UFC on FX Notes — This was a very good fight card, from top to bottom. There wasn’t a bad fight on it, and there were some sensational finishes, including six in the first round.
— The main event went pretty much how I thought it was going to go: Jim Miller is just too good on the ground, and Melvin Guillard is just too bad on the ground, for a ground exchange between them to end any way other than Guillard tapping out. Miller is now 21-3 in his MMA career, with 12 of his wins by submission. Guillard is 29-10-2, with nine of his losses by submission. It’s a shame that Guillard has never developed much submission defense because other than that glaring hole in his game he has the talent to be a champion.
— Jorge Rivera retired after his fight with Eric Schafer. Rivera, who will turn 40 next month, has had a long and honorable mixed martial arts career, and it’s easy to see why he has decided that now is the time: He’s been fighting professionally for more than a decade, and his time in the UFC goes all the way back to UFC 44, when he beat David Louiseau, and there’s not a whole lot left for him to do inside the Octagon.
Most of the talk recently about UFC fighters’ pay has focused on either the entry-level fighters making as little as $6,000 a fight, or on the stars who make millions. I’d like to hear more about how well mid-level veterans like Rivera are doing financially. I would hope that Rivera has made enough money in his 15-fight career to pay off a house, put some money away for retirement, set up his gym back home in Massachusetts and generally be financially comfortable, if not rich, now that he’s done fighting. Eventually it would be great to see the UFC reach the point where vested veterans have pension plans.
UFC on FX Quotes “I was so excited. Like, I was super excited. I didn’t know what to do. I was just like, I’m going to go in there and go crazy.” — Daniel Pineda, who sounded as happy as a kid on Christmas morning after he earned a first-round submission win over Pat Schilling in his UFC debut.
“I know the whole world says my jiu jitsu coach is James Toney.” — Pat Barry, making a joke at his own expense by acknowledging that his ground skills have looked almost as rudimentary as Toney’s in the past. Barry still has some work to do on his takedown defense, but he did a nice job of defending himself on the ground and getting back to his feet against Christian Morecraft before eventually knocking Morecraft out.
Good Call
Joe Silva made a great decision in signing Khabib Nurmagomedov, who looked tremendous in his third-round submission win over Kamal Shalorus, a win that improved his record to an amazing 17-0. This 23-year-old Russian has a great future ahead of him.
Bad Call Referee Herb Dean was too quick to stand up the fight when Charlie Brenneman was inside Daniel Roberts’ guard in both the second and third rounds. Brenneman and Roberts were both fighting and trying to improve their positions, and Dean should have let them work it out. Coming just six days after referee Dan Miragliotta was too quick to stand up Anthony Johnson and Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, it was disappointing to see another good referee with two more premature standups.
Stock Up Nick Denis got things started with a sensational knockout of Joseph Sandoval, using four straight short elbows to put Sandoval down just 22 seconds into the first round. The 28-year-old Denis, who has previously fought for Sengoku in Japan as well as a few smaller American promotions, is a great addition to the UFC’s bantamweight division.
Stock Down Tommy Hayden was an undefeated prospect heading into Friday night, but he had built up his 8-0 record fighting unknowns on small cards, and he wasn’t ready for a grizzled veteran like Fabricio Camoes, who schooled him on the ground and made him tap in the first round. Hayden probably needs a few more fights on smaller shows before he’ll be ready to step back into the Octagon.
Fight I Want To See Next I’d love to see a rematch between Jim Miller and Gray Maynard. When they fought in 2009, Maynard won by unanimous decision, but I believe Miller may have improved more than Maynard since then. That fight would be a fascinating battle between two of the lightweight division’s best grapplers.
(I know they’re beautiful, Dominick, but just because you promised to get them on TV doesn’t mean they qualify as assistant coaches.)
The UFC announced yesterday that the fifteenth season of its reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, will feature current bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and long time rival Urijah Faber as its coaches when it debuts on FX this March.
The pair last met in July at UFC 132, where “The Dominator” earned a unanimous decision nod and evened the score between the two in an exciting back-and-forth battle.Their initial meeting dates back over five years to the glory days of the WEC, where Faber scored a guillotine choke over the current champ within the first two minutes.
Since their UFC 132 Fight of the Night earning brawl, Cruz has scored another unanimous decision win over Demetrious Johnson, whereas Faber recently picked up a second round submission victory at UFC 139 over the man to lose the WEC bantamweight title to Cruz, Brian Bowles.
(I know they’re beautiful, Dominick, but just because you promised to get them on TV doesn’t mean they qualify as assistant coaches.)
The UFC announced yesterday that the fifteenth season of its reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, will feature current bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and long time rival Urijah Faber as its coaches when it debuts on FX this March.
The pair last met in July at UFC 132, where “The Dominator” earned a unanimous decision nod and evened the score between the two in an exciting back-and-forth battle.Their initial meeting dates back over five years to the glory days of the WEC, where Faber scored a guillotine choke over the current champ within the first two minutes.
Since their UFC 132 Fight of the Night earning brawl, Cruz has scored another unanimous decision win over Demetrious Johnson, whereas Faber recently picked up a second round submission victory at UFC 139 over the man to lose the WEC bantamweight title to Cruz, Brian Bowles.
TUF 15 will feature contestants in both the welterweight and lightweight divisions, and for the first time in the shows history, all fights will be held live. Additionally, MMA Live’s Jon Anik will be taking over as the show’s host.
It will be interesting to see if Cruz can push the buttons of the notoriously laid back Faber, or if the need for reality style drama that plagues the show will be pushed entirely on the competing fighters this time around. Who knows, maybe one of the coaches will play the role of misunderstood heel/uber jackass to boost up ratings. One thing’s for sure, when these two complete the trilogy at the show’s finale, it will definitely be a lot more competitive than Miller/Bisping.
I want to be an on-air personality for the UFC. There I said it … My qualifications? Well, I’ve been a fighter for the past 14 years. I’ve trained with some of the legends of the sport and even cornered them for some of the greatest fights in UFC history. I was there when the UFC went from 5 shows a year to being in every home in America. And, I know my ish. Plus, I’ve been a public speaker since I was 7 years old, standing up in Church and giving Bible readings. Last year I spoke at a TEDx conference where it was me, a mike and 300 business people for 18 minutes. And now I travel around the country speaking on behalf of my XLIF back surgery that game me my life back. Not to mention I hosted my own tv show on Comcast called American Cage Fighter. It was only broadcast in Nor Cal but was really well received and replayed every day of the week. Do I have your support?
Simply put, yes Mr. Quarry.
(When The Walking Dead didn’t call him back, Quarry knew he was bound for the UFC once again.)
I want to be an on-air personality for the UFC. There I said it … My qualifications? Well, I’ve been a fighter for the past 14 years. I’ve trained with some of the legends of the sport and even cornered them for some of the greatest fights in UFC history. I was there when the UFC went from 5 shows a year to being in every home in America. And, I know my ish. Plus, I’ve been a public speaker since I was 7 years old, standing up in Church and giving Bible readings. Last year I spoke at a TEDx conference where it was me, a mike and 300 business people for 18 minutes. And now I travel around the country speaking on behalf of my XLIF back surgery that game me my life back. Not to mention I hosted my own tv show on Comcast called American Cage Fighter. It was only broadcast in Nor Cal but was really well received and replayed every day of the week. Do I have your support?
Simply put, yes Mr. Quarry. Though it is a shame to know that we likely won’t ever see him fight again (he hasn’t competed since a second round TKO loss to Jorge Rivera back at UFN 21 in 2010), it would be nice to hear an actual fighter’s take for once when it comes to the action unfolding inside the octagon. Kenny Florian provides this from time to time, but establishing a fighter on a more permanent basis would be a great move for the UFC.
For those of you who might have forgotten, Quarry was a contestant on the very first season of The Ultimate Fighter and could add an interesting perspective when it comes to the ever growing number of TUFees fighting in the octagon. The man is also a ten fight UFC veteran who has overcome near insurmountable odds in order to continue competing professionally.
But the problem here is Quarry’s timing. Aside from their recent signing of former MMA Live host Jon Anik to cover various UFC related gigs, including a role as play-by-play announcer for the UFC’s fights on FX and FuelTV, the UFC has also brought over commentator Todd Harris to handle their pre-fight shows since their absorption of the WEC. So where exactly could Quarry fit in? Perhaps Anik needs a color commentator for the FX and FuelTV shows, and there’s no way Quarry could be any worse at it than Troy Aikman.
So what say you, Potato Nation, would you like a little more of “The Rock” in your lives?
The work done inside the Octagon at the first-ever 
