When Dana White and Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta acquired the UFC in 2001, as part of the transition they took a number of key employees from the former ownership out to dinner.
One of those was its play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg.
The dinner was in Las Vegas, where Zuffa, the company White and the Fertittas founded to purchase the UFC, was based but where the sport was not yet sanctioned.
Goldberg, who has been the promotion’s play-by-play announcer since 1997, remembers one of the first questions he asked Lorenzo Fertitta: “Will we ever see the UFC on a billboard in Las Vegas?”
Little did he know how silly that question would seem today.
“I went out (to) some pubs in Minnesota (last week),” Goldberg said. “And at every single bar I went into there was a notice: ‘UFC 100 PPV available Saturday.'”
It has been a long journey to get to this point where MMA — and in particular the UFC — is as popular as it is, not just in Las Vegas but all across North America and beyond. Goldberg, who was announcing UFC shows for more than three years before Zuffa took over, has watched the sport of mixed martial arts grow exponentially literally before his eyes.
So as UFC 100 gets set to go down Saturday night in Las Vegas, the man who has already called more than 100 events himself has a great perspective on where the UFC has come in the past dozen years.
“I’d been through the dark days if you will,” said Goldberg. “I’d been through going to the arenas down in Alabama or in Mississippi and everyone thinking this was going to be the last show.”
Back then things did look grim. The UFC had been removed from pay-per-view for being regarded as too violent. It didn’t have the rules and safety precautions as it has today. Even though it still had a faithful following, it wasn’t unusual for shows to have less than 1,500 in attendance. After Zuffa bought the organization for $2 milion with visions of grandeur, they began holding shows in Atlantic City in front of larger crowds at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, and by the end of 2001 they had secured sanctioning in Nevada.
On Sept. 28, 2001, the first UFC in Las Vegas was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and was back on PPV. UFC 33 saw light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz successfully defend his belt against Vladimir Matyushenko by unanimous decision, with future title-holder Chuck Liddell also a winner in an earlier bout. The foundation had been set.
Still, in the first four years under the new ownership, the UFC lost $43 million. Many might have thrown in the towel and given up on the relatively small investment. Goldberg isn’t the least bit surprised they didn’t.
“I was a true believer in the Fertittas and Dana White the first time I had dinner with them. These guys have been successful in everything they’ve done. They think success only, they think big, they’re not afraid to go after things. They don’t take no for an answer. If it doesn’t work one way, they’ll look for another way.”
Despite his faith, there was a chance Goldberg might have missed the boat. He was offered a very lucrative contract with the WWE in 2005, one he was very tempted to accept.
“(The WWE was) first-class the way they came after me, and not just the offer but … how they saw me being a real key to what they thought was a repositioning of Monday Night Raw. But I felt like I had been on this ride (in the UFC) for so long. It was like I was on this cruise and we were about to stop at this beautiful island, but I didn’t know where it was and I didn’t want to jump ship. Somehow I wanted to finish the journey and I wanted to see where it was going to go.
“As I look at it now, I may have had great success, great happiness and a lot of fun at the WWE. But it really would have broken my heart to see everything that has happened to the UFC in the past couple of years and to think I might not have been part of it. At the end of the day, it was like leaving your family to go do something else. It just didn’t feel right to leave, and as I look at it now, thank goodness I didn’t.”
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Goldberg admitted it has taken a lot of time to become the expert on the sport that he is now. In fact, he was a real rookie when he first arrived on the scene. He came from a hockey background, having done about 600 NHL games for the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild and ESPN.
He recalls how one of his producers, Bruce Connell, with whom he still works, pitched to him what would become his new and ultimately long-lasting “day job.”
“(Connell) called me when (former play-by-play announcer) Bruce Beck left (the UFC) and said, ‘Goldy, I got a gig for you, you’ve got to take a jiu-jitsu class, it’s in Japan, it’s in December, you gotta do it.’ And I’m like, ‘Uh… alright.’ At that point I had just left the Red Wings — they didn’t renew my contract — and I’m thinking, I’m doing whatever!”
His first show was UFC Ultimate Japan on Dec. 21, 1997 and was the organziation’s debut outside the U.S. He remembers arriving in Yokohama and within a few hours getting a memorable hands-on demonstration from one of the UFC’s most accomplished referees Big John McCarthy.
But even before that he got a crash course on the sport, not from Big John but his wife, Elaine McCarthy, who was the travel coordinator and liaison to the ownership of the UFC.
“She gave me the background on Gracie, and how in Brazil Gracie was like Smith and jiu-jitsu was protection for the smaller man against the bigger man. (She said) most fights will hit the ground.”
Next thing he knows Big John was demonstrating to him the finer points of a rear naked choke.
“I’ll never forget, John had his arm wrapped around my chin,” Goldberg recalled. “And I was ready to tap, man. I was done!”
Goldberg said the UFC was more of a spectacle back then, with big walk-ins, on a lot grander scale than there is now. But, as with any event, it’s the fights themselves that stick in your head. And this event was no minor affair.
“The thing I remember most vividly was Randy Couture winning the title over Maurice Smith. But also it was the big coming out party for Frank Shamrock. It was his first fight in the UFC and he was coming out of the shadow of big brother Ken. And he took on Olympic wrestling gold medalist Kevin Jackson. And Frank arm-barred him in about 16 seconds.
“That’s when I knew. I was like, ‘Wow, there’s some different elements to this sport.'”
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Something Goldberg has observed over the dozen years he has been with the UFC from his very first show to this day is the evolution of the mixed martial arts athlete.
He said things are very different from that first show when you would have “the wrestler against the jiu-jitsu fighter.” Or “the kickboxer against the wrestler.” He believes that really doesn’t exist anymore, as everybody is trained in all the various disciplines. And the guy who can do more things well is usually the guy who ends up on top.
But even more than the athlete, Goldberg says he’s noticed and really appreciates the evolution of the MMA fan. And he’s not the only one.
“(Back then the fans) wanted the knockout or nothing. Now our fans understand that the submissions could be as dramatic and as violent and as beautiful as a knockout can. And the takedown and ground-and-pound can be as vicious as a kick to the head.
“It’s really cool to have fans start to understand when somebody has avoided a submission. They’ve been able to escape what was really a dangerous situation. And when he gets the fight back to the feet and the crowd reacts.
“That’s something I’ve noticed over the last few years that happens more frequently than it did early on. And I think it’s got to be extremely gratifying to the fighters, because that just tells the fighters and all of us that the fans know what just happened.”
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At one point Goldberg had aspirations to be an NFL broadcaster, considered by many to be one of the pinnacles in sports broadcasting. Goldberg, who lives with his wife Kim and two kids in Arizona, would still love to do it — he did a pre-season package with the Cardinals before last season (and of course believes he was a good luck charm to the team that made its first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history!)
But Goldberg, whose trademark call, “It is all over!” has become very familiar to MMA fans, said what he has already achieved in the UFC makes landing an NFL job less of a necessity in terms of his legacy as an announcer. People have said he, along with his booth partner, longtime colour commentator Joe Rogan, are seen by many like some of the famous NFL broadcast duos, such as John Madden and Pat Summerall, or Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.
It’s hard to argue with that.
“While I would still love to do (the NFL), I wouldn’t sacrifice one second of my UFC career to do that now,” Goldberg said.
There have been many highlights to his career. He recalls the first time going to London, England for UFC 38: The Brawl at the Hall in July 2002 and watching Ian Freeman overwhelm Frank Mir, and Matt Hughes take out Carlos Newton for the welterweight title. He described Royal Albert Hall as “a little majestic, gladiatorial looking arena, which the Queen made for Prince Albert and where the Beatles played way back when,” and with the fans cheering with a rugby-type atmosphere and how it gave him chills.
But there are two much larger events that stand out to him on a personal level.
No. 1 was UFC 68: The Uprising at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The first ever event in the state of Ohio in March 2007 was historic because it set the attendance record at the time. But it stands out even more to him because he was born and raised in Ohio.
“At that point the UFC started to be a more pertinent part of my life and then a lot of my family and friends were like, ‘You’re doing this UFC thing, it’s getting really popular.’ And then for them to have the experience first-hand and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t think it was like this,’ was cool.
“The reaction to Randy Couture obviously (was memorable) and the countdown at the end of the fifth and final round, when Randy solidified his win over Tim Sylvia. I’ve always said that that one to me is the most special.”
“But I’m a little biased,” added Goldberg, who went on to say that Couture being on the first card he called 10 years earlier and how he had been in the broadcast booth with him before really brought things full circle for him. And right in his own backyard.
No. 2 is one no Canadian fan should forget: UFC 83 in April 2008 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, an event which eclipsed Columbus in terms of attendance and sales. And perhaps even in decibel level.
Goldberg’s a self-proclaimed hockey guy — not to mention his wife is from Vancouver and his nine-year-old son plays hockey, even taking part in hockey camp in Minnesota last week. So he’s got the Canadian connection. And he knows what the playoffs are about and especially in Montreal. And he said that night that the French Canadian kid Georges St. Pierre got his revenge over Matt Serra in front of the Quebecois fans who love their own was the second most magical moment he’s experienced in the UFC.
“It was so loud during that walk-in for GSP. It was absolutely ridiculous.”
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Nearly eight years after the UFC held its first show at Mandalay Bay, the world’s top MMA promotion is back there for its landmark event. And even though the venue’s capacity of under 12,000 is less than the MGM Grand right across the street — and doesn’t come close to the roughly 20,000 of the Nationwide Arena or the Bell Centre — you can bet the crowd atmosphere will be a perfect representation of where the sport has come in the dozen years since Goldberg first put on the headset by the Octagon.
And who’s to say what the next dozen years have in store.
“The scary part about it, or great part … is the fact that I don’t even think we’ve scratched the surface yet,” Goldberg said. “I think it’s just going to continue with the worldwide domination that Lorenzo and Dana want to see happen so much. There’s a ton of growth and a ton of fun experiences to happen yet.”
“As you come into this monumental event, I’m sure if you asked just a few years back would we see it being this, everyone would say no. If not they were lying.
“And I’m still overwhelmed and I’m humbled and blessed every day to be a part of it.”
Apropos, watch “UFC Top 100 Fights” on Sportsnet, as Mike Goldberg hosts the show counting down the 100 greatest fights in the organization’s history. Check local listings.
