Vladimir VladisavljevicUFC transitioned from a small promotion to the greatest MMA organization thanks to hard work and hiring the best people on the planet.
Legendary fighters Conor McGregor, George St-Pierre, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, and Jon Jones skyrocketed the popularity of the sport, but bleeding inside the Octagon is only one part of success.
Having top-notch commentators quickly helped improve the popularity of one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Only a handful of people get the chance to sit next to the cage and interview fighters immediately after the Octagon bloodbaths.
These legendary voices have taken the UFC to the next level with their sheer dedication and skill. Welcome to the world of the best UFC commentators!
Our favorite UFC commentators and analysts:
The majority of guys on this list are former fighters, and some of them even won the UFC belt. While some names were bleeding all over the Octagon, others are simply gifted individuals with superb announcing talent, an entertaining voice, and a great feel for the fight.
Here are the most notable names that take you through the battle and dissect all the small things the Octagon warriors are doing.
Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan has been a member of the UFC commentary team since its early days. He joined the greatest promotion of the world back in 2002. Joe is a superstar of the commentary world and it would be difficult to imagine the UFC without him.
Rogan is not just a color commentator; he is a famous TV personality and one of the most influential people on the planet. He is known for JRE (the Joe Rogan Experience), a podcast with one of the greatest number of viewers all around the globe.
Rogan is also a comedian with more than 10 million Instagram followers and he’s a diehard fan of weed.
Lately, Rogan is present at UFC PPVs. He has said he’d rather give opportunities to other young announcers at UFC Fight Night events. His net worth is over 25 million dollars.
Some UK fans criticize Rogan for his biased commentaries, as he tends to call fights for his favorite Octagon warriors.
He’s a fan, just like the rest of the community, and a very skilled martial artist – a black belt in Taekwondo and BJJ.
Joe Rogan’s trademark is the knowledge of every single position, both in the stand-up and on the ground.
Daniel Cormier
Daniel Cormier is a former UFC two-division champion. One of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the game now runs a podcast with Ariel Helwani, the most famous MMA journalist.
Cormier is part of the commentary team, mostly with Brendan Fitzgerald and Joe Rogan.
Cormier is known to lack attention and often shows biased commentary, according to the fans. In the fight between Jan Blachowicz and Israel Adesanya, “DC” scored all the rounds for Israel. Judges gave three or four clean rounds for the Polish raw power.
Of course, he’s Joe Rogan’s right hand man for a reason!
Diehard fans still remember Cormier’s obsession with texting. He missed the knockout in the bout between Emmett and Johnson because he had to take a look at the latest news on his social media. That right-hand fist of fury landed clean, but DC was looking down and missed the show!
Cormier has a deep understanding of the game and he is a top-notch analyst, so UFC hired him for a reason. His knowledge of wrestling moves is arguably the best in the world of UFC commentators. He sees holes in fighter’s games and amazingly breaks down what happens inside the cage.
Jon Anik
Jon Anik is one of the most famous commentators in UFC. He kicked off his voyage in 2011 and never looked back.
Anik sounds like an “MMAPedia”, as he knows all the details from fighters’ private lives, training camps, social media, and news. He reminds fans of a computer with unlimited memory.
Jon Anik stepped in Mike Goldberg’s shoes and, from the beginning, it was clear that the UFC made the right move by bringing him to the commentary team.
While the fighter walks towards the ring and enters the Octagon, Anik keeps the fans entertained with various tiny details from his/her life. You can learn a lot by listening to this guy for sure!
His knowledge of the game is fair, but they always pair him with a fighter because Anik has never been a professional competitor.
Anik’s social media popularity is insane; he has over 300k followers. He also has a podcast with the legendary Kenny Florian, one of the rare fighters to compete in four different weight classes! Fans like to say – two weirdos, perfect match!
Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping is a former UFC middleweight champion and a trash-talk expert. His beef with Luke Rockhold, Jorge Masvidal, Dan Henderson, and many other rivals made a lot of fans laugh.
He is one of the greatest warriors to ever step inside the ring, a man who fought with some of the most gruesome injuries. Bisping nearly lost his eye after a match with Belfort, but let’s focus on his commentary skills.
Bisping is known for unbiased truth when it comes to the fight, but he likes to offer his own advice from time to time, which makes fans laugh.
On a few occasions, Michael saw holes in the fighters’ game, and said: “Why don’t you listen to me?!“. Bisping is a die-hard fan with superb knowledge of all areas of fighting, known for wittiness and fast tongue.
But Michael went one step further in the world of interviews too. From time to time, he gets into little scuffles with people he interviews. It seems Bisping enjoys expressing his opinion a bit too aggressively.
Paul Felder
Despite being an active fighter, Felder is an irreplaceable name on the list of UFC commentators nowadays. Inside the Octagon, Felder is a fearsome warrior who marches forward, eats and lands bombs, and makes the crowd go wild.
Paul uses his MMA knowledge greatly as the commentator. He knows to anticipate potential shots or sweep attempts, which just shows his level of knowledge and outstanding anticipation skills. Felder is a wonderful counter-striker as a fighter, but a great predictor of the next move or combo as a commentator!
Felder doesn’t have tons of fans because of his humble and respectful personality, you’ll never hear him criticizing or trolling fighters.
“The Irish Dragon” knows how hard it is to cut weight, step inside the Octagon, get battered, and survive a five-round war – he’s a passionate dude who treats every single fighter the same.
Dominick Cruz
If you started following this sport recently, then you probably don’t remember that Cruz was one of the greatest pound-for-pound Octagon names a few years ago.
He destroyed TJ Dillashaw but failed to return to action later against Cejudo. It is believed that injuries ended his fighting year, but Cruz is still an active fighter.
He is one of the best voices of the Octagon. Cruz shows a deep understanding of footwork and feints. It makes him a perfect colleague for someone with “pure journalist credentials”, like Jon Anik or Brendan Fitzgerald for example.
This guy is one of the greatest brains of the sport. He understands all the small details of the fastest-growing mixed martial arts brand in the world.
Listen to him carefully and you’ll see how much he loves the sport. Many analysts are parts of the commentary booth because of money, but Dom is here because of his endless passion for MMA!
Brendan Fitzgerald
Many fans call Brendan Fitzgerald “the shadow of Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier”. He may not be a fan-favorite, but he deserves a lot of respect as he “lets experts comment on the expert stuff”.
Let us elaborate – Brendan doesn’t know sweeps, transitions, submission switches, potential counters, and can’t really identify the next move in the fight. He won’t discuss that, but if you ask him about a fighter’s private life or any interesting facts, you’ll be impressed.
His story is a bit different – Fitzgerald joined the greatest MMA promotion when it parted ways with FOX and inked a contract with ESPN in 2017. He’s a valuable UFC booth asset at ESPN and ESPN+ events.
Brendan’s popularity skyrocketed after the controversial eye poke in the match between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens in Mexico City.
The match was stopped after 15 seconds, and the frustrated Mexican fans started throwing beer cups, popcorn, and other debris towards the ring.
Brendan hid under the table and continued commentating. Michael Bisping published that video on social media, which gave Fitzgerald a lot of respect in the MMA community.
John Gooden
John Gooden is a prime example of a highly educated journalist with amazing research skills. He worked for BBC and many other TV stations.
Interestingly, Gooden has never competed in MMA, but he studied every aspect of it. Because of his hard work and dedication, he has become a more qualified UFC commentator than most of his competition.
Gooden trains BJJ, MMA, and other martial arts from time to time, but fans love him because of his respectful and cheerful attitude and the positive energy that he brings into the game.
You will never hear Gooden trashing or insulting a fighter, even when he gets brutalized or underperforms like Ngannou did in the second fight against Miocic at UFC 226.
He’s usually a member of the commentary team in the UK events, as he lives in England.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, many good names aren’t a part of the UFC anymore. Dan Hardy was released from the number one MMA promotion. He yelled at referee Herb Dean to stop the fight between Jai Herbert and Francisco Trinaldo because Herb allowed dazed Herbert to absorb a brutal barrage of unnecessary violent fists to the head. Dana White wasn’t a fan.
Randy Couture, Pat Miletich, Rashad Evans, Mike Goldberg, and many others are great examples of raw, old-school UFC commentators but the sport is evolving. Names are changing, but the sport is getting better and better.
Who’s your favorite commentator and why? Do you prefer Wikipedia-style guys or the former fighters with intimate knowledge of every single strike, position, sweep, transition, and submission attempt?
