Jimmy Smith recently signed a deal to become part of the UFC broadcast team, which began at UFC 220.
However, before coming to the UFC, it was Smith who sat behind the commentator desk for Bellator MMA. Jon Slusser is an executive with the Paramount Network, which owns Bellator MMA and he says that they just couldn’t come to terms with Smith.
“When it comes to Jimmy Smith, he’s been with this company for a very long time,” Slusser said at the Bellator 192 pre-fight press conference. “He’s super talented, passionate. He’s great. And we really wish him well. We tried to make it work, as he said, as we said. It’s business. We got together, discussed it, and we just didn’t see eye-to-eye on the deal.”
The new Bellator MMA commentary team will feature Mauro Ranallo, Mike Goldberg, Jay Glazer, John McCarthy and Chael Sonnen all lending their voices to future events.
Slusser is excited to hear what the new additions to the team in McCarthy and Glazer bring to the table.
“Where we are now, we’re really excited about,” Slusser said. “We’ve got ‘Big’ John (McCarthy), Jay Glazer added to our unbelievable group of broadcasters. We’re really excited where we are, looking forward to a big Saturday night with our team and I think ‘Big’ John, we’ve worked with him, we’ve done some tests, and he’s incredible. Really, really good. We’re excited for you to see that and you’ll see that he’s great.”
While Smith will take a role at the analyst desk for UFC 220, it is unknown yet when the longtime Bellator MMA employee will call his first UFC card.
