No one is more disappointed than Mike Goldberg about the way things ended between he and the UFC.
The longtime play-by-play voice of the Octagon unceremoniously parted ways with the UFC last month after spending 20 years as a mainstay of the company’s broadcast booth — exiting the UFC without even a tribute from the promotion itself. On Monday, speaking publicly for the first time his departure, Goldberg said was stunned to learn of the UFC’s decision to not renew his contract at the beginning of December, and explained that he simply resolved to close out the final three shows of his UFC career with the same level of professionalism as everything that came before.
“It was a shock,” Goldberg said on The MMA Hour. “I was speechless. I didn’t know what type of emotion to have, because I was just in a state of shock and disbelief. People love that warm, fuzzy blanket. That’s what you were describing a second ago, and (longtime broadcast partner) Joe (Rogan) and I have been that warm, fuzzy blanket for a long time when it came to the UFC. Everybody gets new blankets and they get new furniture, but at the end of the day, when you cuddle up on a Sunday and you watch football, that blanket in the corner that’s got holes in it, and it’s kinda smelly but that’s your blanket, that’s the one you utilize.
“Joe and I have been so blessed and fortunate to be — and I love the description, ‘the soundtrack’ — so blessed and fortunate to be the soundtrack of the UFC for so long, that it really was, I was in shock and disbelief for that reason.”
Prior to his leaving, Goldberg was one of the last remaining figures within the UFC to pre-date the Zuffa era. His career outside the Octagon began all the way in 1997, back when he replaced Bruce Beck on the play-by-play desk at UFC 15.5: Ultimate Japan — a full three years before an investment group led by the Fertittas and Dana White purchased the struggling UFC for just $2 million dollars.
Over the years since, Goldberg and his broadcast partner Joe Rogan announced hundreds of UFC events big and small, serving as the voices of the Octagon at a time when the sport grew from awkward sideshow to the international behemoth that it is today.
But Goldberg’s dismissal was not an isolated incident. A myriad of high- and low-level UFC employees have either left the company or been laid off since the UFC was acquired by entertainment giant WME-IMG for a massive price tag of over $4 billion in July 2016. And for that reason, Goldberg said he did not ask the UFC why it was letting him go after initially being offered no reason behind the move.
“I’m no different than the guy in merchandise, or the 15 vice presidents who got let go, or the entire team in Canada that was shut down,” Goldberg said. “I’m not the only guy who was let go by the new ownership. Well over 100 people [were let go], and good friends of both yours and mine. I’m the one being talked about because I had the high-profile job, but I’m not going to sit here and weep because new ownership came in and I was one of the guys who got cut. I was one of a lot of people, and a lot of good people, from the Zuffa era who got cut. And so I felt for my co-workers, for my friends, as much as I felt for myself.
“I watched everything around me be shattered,” Goldberg continued. “It took 15 years to build this wonderful family, and it felt like it was taking 15 minutes to destroy it. And it just was a really tough time, and it may still be tough. There may be more to come throughout the UFC family. This is not uncommon in an ownership change with anything. It might just be corporate America, it might be on Wall Street. In this instance, it’s a sports property.
“So what reason were they going to give me? And would that make me feel any better or any worse? No, not at all. So honestly, I just felt respect for the other members of the family that also were released, and I’m no better than any of those guys. So, it is what it is. Extremely disappointing, don’t get me wrong. But mostly disappointing because our family has really been torn, and that’s what I’ll miss the most.”
Full story here:
Mike Goldberg on UFC departure: ‘I watched everything around me be shattered’
