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The UFC has had several excellent MMA commentators perform mic duties for it over the years.
Former and current UFC fighters like Michael Bisping, Paul Felder, Dan Hardy, Dominick Cruz and Daniel Cormier, apart from analysts and media personalities like Joe Rogan, Jon Anik and Brendan Fitzgerald, have made the overall experience of watching shows very enjoyable.
However, like any other live sport, the UFC has seen a few commentary goof-ups. Here are five instances of questionable commentary in the promotion.
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#5 Jon Anik's custody battle comment at UFC 258
On the preliminary card of UFC 258, Andre Ewell faced off against Chris Gutierrez in a catchweight bout that the latter won by unanimous decision. Gutierrez nearly had the finish in the final round as he landed a flush head kick, but ran out of time and had to settle for the judges' decision. But the fight was remembered for different reasons.
In the first round, commentator Jon Anik revealed an odd bit of information about the fighters - that both of them were in the process of fighting custody battles for their respective children. The offhand comment seemed out of place and unnecessary, with Anik coming under criticism from many sections of the MMA community.
While Gutierrez didn't take too kindly to the piece of commentary and hit out at Anik, Ewell took to Twitter to post the following:
“Shoutout to Jon Anik for bringing light to my situation! I want everyone to know I’m fighting for my son and that fight is my biggest fight ever. So thank you Jon Anik I know where you heart is at.”
Check out: Complete list of the UFC commentators
#4 Joe Rogan firmly in favor of Al Iaquinta at UFC 223
Khabib Nurmagomedov went through a series of opponent changes in the lead-up to UFC 223, before finally laying his hands on the lightweight gold with a mauling of late replacement Al Iaquinta.
The scorecards of the fight read 50-44, 50-43 and 50-43 in favor of 'The Eagle', who dominated Iaquinta with consistent takedowns and held his own on the feet as well. But Joe Rogan seemed to be completely in favor of 'Raging' Al, as he expressed great excitement even when he landed a glancing blow.
Despite being one of the best UFC commentators of all time and a man who has shaped the promotion, Rogan came under severe criticism. He took to social media to issue a length apology, an excerpt of which read:
"In no way am I biased against Khabib, in fact, I’m a massive fan of his and he’s one of my all-time favourite fighters. If any of you were annoyed by my concentrating on that aspect of an incredibly dominant performance by one of the most impressive guys in the history of the division, please accept my sincere apology."
#3 Mike Goldberg's 'rockstar' comment at UFC 193
Former UFC commentator Mike Goldberg left the promotion under acrimonious circumstances a few years ago. Goldberg, who was known for his famous lines "Here we go!" and "It is all over!", had a voice synonymous with the octagon for many years, but also made several bizarre errors.
One such mistake came during Ronda Rousey's first professional MMA loss, to Holly Holm at UFC 193. As the challenger mauled 'Rowdy' with her kickboxing to secure a second-round TKO victory, Goldberg exclaimed, "It takes a lot of energy to be a rockstar!" in the dying seconds of the first round.
It was clear that Rousey was being comprehensively outfought, and the comment was immediately contested by Joe Rogan, who was also on air.
#2 Dominick Cruz on Conor McGregor's tactics at UFC 229
Another instance of questionable commentary featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov, former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz had an interesting take on what transpired during the fight against Conor McGregor at UFC 229.
As 'The Eagle' ragdolled McGregor with consistent, powerful ground-and-pound, Cruz mentioned on commentary that the Irishman was perhaps trying to tire his opponent out. The comment was criticized by fans on end, with even Khabib pointing out its lack of logic to Daniel Cormier later.
Speaking about the same, Cruz said:
"Khabib was smashing Conor down on the floor, he was just unloading. I can't remember what round Conor got finished in that fight... I remember saying like, 'Man, it looks like he is trying to hope. He is covering up and hoping because he is not doing too much, that Khabib gets tired punching himself out trying to finish him.'"
"And Joe said: 'I don't know. I think he just can't do anything. He is getting smashed...' It's not that he is wrong... but as a fighter, I've been in that position. I'm losing at that point if I'm Conor and I have pretty much no chance of getting up because this dude is on me like glue... my last hope is he might get tired. Everything else you tried is not working," Cruz added.
#1 Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan during UFC 259
Israel Adesanya suffered the first loss of his professional career at UFC 259, where he took on Jan Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight championship.
'The Last Stylebender' had an unbeatable aura around him ahead of the fight, which might have been what prompted Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier to heavily favor the challenger, especially during striking exchanges that Blachowicz appeared to edge. Rogan and Cormier insisted that the Pole was biting on his opponent's feints and even gave Adesanya a couple of rounds.
But the fight wasn't close at all, as was justified by the one-sided judges' scorecards. Cormier took to Twitter to defuse the situation, but maintained that he believes the fight was closer than it seemed.
