Interview with UFC’s Mike Goldberg

For over a decade, Mike Goldberg has been the voice of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Throughout the course of his tenure as the voice of broadcast, Goldberg along with Joe Rogan have called defining moments in the careers of Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, and BJ Penn just to name a few. The man they call “Goldy” continues to bring his tremendous passion, high energy and smooth delivery to every single UFC broadcast which fans have become accustomed to. We had an opportunity to catch up with a voice synonymous with the UFC Mike Goldberg to discuss the future of the sport and look back at his career thus far.

Fight Trader: December 21s t 1997 is a day you will forever remember. It was the first time you did play-by-play for the UFC. What do you remember most about that event?

Mike Goldberg: It was just being in Japan and seeing this cage that these dudes were fighting in. The biggest thing going into that was pretty much Randy Couture and the Maurice Smith/Randy Couture title fight. I spent a lot of time that week with Randy Couture and Maurice Smith. I spent a lot of time with Jeff Blatnik and Randy my broadcast partner at the time. It was great just being able to travel to Japan for the first time. My wife is half Japanese so we have some family heritage so that was unique. Away from the octagon, I walked into a ballroom and Elaine McCarthy who was the travel coordinator for SEG back then and was a student of the game for awhile being married to Big John. She started giving me the whole background of BJJ and the little guy trying to protect himself. Then I was in a conference room with Big John and Jeff Blatnik and they started showing me different moves and choking me. It was a basic ABC of mma and submissions. I remember Jeff cranking on my chin. When Joe now says, a submission isn’t that deep because it’s only on the chin, I always go back to that day and say that hurts because I tapped out from it being on the chin. The best career move ever was the owner of the company Bob Meyrowitz walked by the ballroom at the time when I was messing around with McCarthy and Blatnik. I think it gave me really early job security because obviously it showed him this kid wants to learn this sport and take this seriously. Then inside the octagon, the Randy Couture fight being my first and then his fight with Brock being my one hundredth was very memorable. Then this coming out party for Frank Shamrock Ken’s little brother. He hadn’t really burst onto the scene until his fight against Kevin Jackson. I’m an Ohio kid and Jackson was an Olympic Gold Medalist and wrestled at Michigan State, so it had that local flavor for me. I knew I could relate to that and sell it. Frank arm barred him in like 30 seconds. That inside the cage was the biggest deal to me because, I knew of the Shamrock legacy because I learned it. It was Frank’s coming out party. I related to the Midwesterner and the guy won an Olympic Gold medal. Plus I was hanging out with wrestlers the whole week with Randy and Blatnik, so that was the coolest moment for me.

Fight Trader: Mike you have had an extensive career in broadcasting. You worked in Chicago for Sportschannel, did play-by-play for the NHL on ESPN, were the voice for the Detroit Red Wings, and Minnesota Wild. What led you to the UFC?

MG: It came from my time in my hockey. I have some of my greatest memories in Chicago. To be a sideline reporter for the Bulls as they were working their way up the ladder and then they won the titles. During the second title, I remember Michael standing on the press table following the win at Chicago Stadium. In 1995, I left my Sportschannel duties to work at ESPN. One of the main things I was play-by-play for was the NHL. I worked with a guy named Bruce Connal. Bruce is still one my best friends. When I worked with the Red Wings, Bruce was also one of my producers. Bruce’s family is very involved in television. His brother Scotty Connal who passed away during the Atlanta Olympics was a part of that core group of guys who helped to launch ESPN from a technical point. I was working for the Red Wings and then I didn’t get my contract renewed. Bruce’s family company Con Com (Connal Communications) was doing the production for the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the time. A guy named Bruce Beck who basically had the same role at MSG that I had at Sportschannel Chicago got the weekend job at NBC in New York, so he couldn’t freelance anymore. I remember the phone call like it was yesterday Bruce called me up and said “Goldy I got a gig for you. You have to go to a Jiu Jitsu class; it’s in December and in Japan. He said you have to do this. You got a raw deal in Detroit; this will be good for you. You’re the right guy”. I was looking for a gig and thankfully it was that family camaraderie of hockey and television together doing things with Bruce and his crew. The rest is history. Here we are today. David Issacs and Bob Meyrowitz liked my work. I sent in my tape and I got a chance to do it. At that time for a couple of years, it was extra cash for the family and an opportunity to continue to work with Bruce and his crew. Never ever would I have said this is going to be my legacy? I’m going to 200 of these and travel the world with the octagon.

FT: Mixed martial arts and the UFC have grown exponentially. UFC 100 had over 1.5 million PPV buys and ratings for the Ultimate Fighter Season 10 were the highest in the history of the show. Did you ever think back in 2001 that mma and the UFC would reach the heights it has achieved today?

MG: I knew it was going to be bigger when the Fertitas bought the company. When I first came out to Las Vegas I was making the transition with the other SEG Employees. I remember Lorenzo and Frank Fertita and Dana White flew a handful of us out to Las Vegas and we went to this Italian restaurant in the back room. Just knowing what they had accomplished in life and understanding Station Casinos and what they had done. They had succeeded in business their entire life. At that point, I said all right we’re going to make a splash here. This is going to be different than it was in SEG. We’re going to have a show in Las Vegas and be on the big signs. That was one of the first questions I asked Lorenzo if we were going to be on those cool signs at baggage claim at the Las Vegas airport. He said absolutely. Little did I know the UFC was going to be on every sign at the baggage claim. At the time, I didn’t know it was going to be as big as it is today. I certainly knew it was going to be different when the Fertitas and Dana White took over. I give Bob Meyrowitz a ton of credit. He made a lot of money early, but he was bleeding pretty heavily at the end. He kept it going long enough to hand it off to the Fertitas. I really do believe Bob Meyrowitz saved the sport, because he could have bailed. He hung in there long enough to hand it over to the Fertitas and here we are today.

FT: You have called over 100 UFC events; are there a couple of defining fights you can point to over the course of your career?

MG: A lot of the fights are personal. I’ve trained with Mark Dellagrote on many occasions and I’m pretty close to Marcus Davis and Kenny Florian who recently made a change. He trained with Mark for years. I remember when Kenny fought Roger Huerta. I was close to both of those guys, and I said man one of our friends is going to lose tonight. The same goes for Marcus Davis and watching him in his battles having a friendship with him. Those aside, there are some dream match ups. When Wanderlei and Chuck finally happened, we knew it was something special while calling it. UFC 100 was something special also, because the whole week was a celebration of how far we have come. The minute we turned on the PPV lights, it was okay this is a start of where we’re going. To be honest, every time they play The Who before the PPV and then they get into the open and play Face the Pain, I still jump up and down like I did my first UFC. I’ve watched Michael win titles, covered Super Bowls, covered NCAA Tournaments, and watched Duke upset undefeated UNLV. I have been extremely blessed. With the exception maybe of Wayne Messmer singing the National Anthem the final time at Chicago Stadium, there is a different type of chill and energy you get with the UFC. I’ve always said it’s like a Game 7. To every event it’s like a Game 7, and everyone likes to call a Game 7. I definitely have my niche in MMA that Bob Emrich has for the National Hockey League.

FT: You and Joe Rogan have a tremendous amount of chemistry together during UFC broadcasts. Where does that come from?

MG: I think it’s something natural and something you can’t manufacture. In life, we’re different people. Joe is a comedian and is out there. I’m a sports guy who likes all the sports and Joe only likes fighting. It’s just natural and it’s just always been. Joe and I have always have had a good relationship and really good chemistry. The biggest turning point in mine and Joe’s relationship was in 2003. The Minnesota Wild were in the playoffs and it was one of the very few UFCs I had missed since joining the company in 1997. The Wild were playing the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6, and it was my main gig. The Wild was my main job at that point, and they were not going to allow me to miss that game. Joe called play-by-play and Phil Baroni did the color. Joe finally kind of realized all the plays I had on my arm like being a quarterback. He just couldn’t freelance with Bruce giving him a count in his ear and such. He was wondering what was going on here. In Joe’s mind, that was a huge thing. He’s always said this to me. “Goldy I always knew you were always good and I always enjoyed working with you, and we’ve always been great friends, but I never knew how much you really had to do. I never knew how much you were juggling during a show until I had to do that juggling. I think that was a big turning point. I know Joe’s strengths and he knows mine. I have no ego in there. I set Joe up. I don’t want to be that quarterback who just doesn’t lose a game. I want people to look at us in a little bit larger of a light than that. As long as I get the ball to TO, let him get open, and make his plays, he going to score and then we’re all going to win. That is the way I look at. It’s Montana/Rice, Gretzky/Curry, Aikman/Irvin etc. Basically, I have every single play on my arm but my real goal is to make Joe the star on every night. To tee it up and make it easy for him to feel comfortable in the booth, so Joe can do what does best and that is analyze fights.

FT: Recently, you hosted Shaq VS on ABC, what was it like hosting a show with Shaq and various top athletes which he competed against?

MG: The experience was unbelievable and another dream come true especially having “Mr. Fear Factor” sit next to me 50 times a year. I’ve always said I can do that. I can be Ryan Seacrest and be doing Idol. I have always said I’d like to branch off into that. I wouldn’t want to do it exclusively, but I like being a little irreverent being the entertainer carrying the show. When I got the call from the guys at ABC and Dick Clark Productions, I was thrilled. They said I was the perfect guy for it, because I can host have some fun but when it’s time to be serious and call the events; I can call the action like its real. It was a blast working with Shaq. He’s a huge UFC fan, so he made me feel very comfortable. Having a show on ABC was a dream come true. I have always said in your life, you want to call a Super Bowl. I’ve called the Super Bowl of mixed martial arts for years. You want to call an Olympics. I’m still working on it. You want to be on a video game and you wouldn’t mind hosting a reality show. In the past 12 months, I got the video game and the reality show done. When you have a 9-year old kid whose playing a video game with his dad on it; it definitely makes him the most popular kid in the neighborhood.

FT: In 2005, the WWE actively pursued you to become the new play-by-play voice of Raw. How close were you to signing with the WWE and leaving the UFC?

MG: Very close. Part of it was financial, because I have two children that I want to put into college. It was crazy what they wanted to pay me to do Monday Night Raw. I’ve always respected the production of the WWE. I’m an old Mean Gene Okerlund and Hulk Hogan guy. I watched Wrestlemania in college. What they do is very different than what we do. What they do is better than anyone else. Part of that made me excited to possibly venture off into that venue and working with the WWE. What it came down to was the relationships I had with Bruce Connal and Joe Rogan saying we were the team. It was Dana White and Lorenzo and Frank Fertita saying we have come a long way. At that point, we were just knocking on the door. These guys are our voices and we can’t let this change and be different than what it was before. It was very flattering because the WWE came at me out of nowhere. When I walked into one of the guys offices in Stanford Connecticut, he had a stack of UFC DVDs. They obviously had watched me and thought I could be a good voice. When it came down to it, there was a sense of family. At the time, the WWE was already established. The UFC was in unchartered waters. I was in Kenner Louisiana and I kind of paid my dues with the UFC. I thought I had been on this cruise ship for a long time; I want to see where it goes. I could have gone with the WWE, but I want to be with my friends in the UFC and see where it goes. Because of everything that has happened with the UFC and the growth since that point, I don’t know what I would have done had I made that decision. I certainly make the best of it and try to support my family, but man I’d be kicking myself all the way to the grave. That is no disrespect to the WWE, but I certainly made the right decision.

FT: Where do you see the UFC in the next 5 years?

MG: I think the biggest change you’re going to see in the UFC in the next 5 years is the global domination. Dana has said this sport can be the most popular sport in the world. I was with NFL Europe and there were like 30 people in the stands. I know we’ll never be the NFL. The NFL is America’s game and the Super Bowl numbers tell it. Dana has said that many times. Globally, nobody cares. Nobody cares about the NFL like they do soccer or fighting. The biggest change in the next half decade is going to be this move globally. We’re going to Australia, Abu Dhabi, and Vancouver this year. Our product will continue to get better and our fighters will get better, because we’re going to get this next generation of fighters. Kids now aren’t just in the gym focusing to be a wrestler or boxer. When they first walk into the gym, they’re training to be mixed martial artists. I think you’re going to see the UFC go to all these different places and the global expansion will continue.

FT: In 2010, who is going to emerge as the next big star in the UFC?

MG: The one real young kid who I think has everything. He has the guts, the heart, the size, the striking and the ground game who could be a future world champion is Terry Etim. Terry Etim is so long and lean, his striking is so smooth. He’s able to use those long legs for submissions. He got his nose put to the side of his face and he came back won the fight a couple months ago overseas. Terry Etim is one of those guys who isn’t established right now, but another three or four fights; we’re going to be talking about him amongst the elite, and looking for a title shot down the line.

FT: What would you like to tell all the fans?

MG: Thank you for being passionate. Thank you for making our sport so special. Thank you for your undying support during the downtimes and your unbridled enthusiasm during the uptimes. Thank you for all the kindness you have given Joe and I. At the end of the day, I want all the fans to know Joe and I are just like them but we have a headset on. We love and embrace the sport. This sport is as important as anything in our life. We respect every fight, every fighter every broadcast because we want to do the best job for the fans and the fighters who put in all that blood, sweat, and tears into training.

You can watch Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan on Spike hosting UFC Unleashed and every UFC PPV.

By: Ray Flores