Mike Goldberg’s run with the UFC coming to an end on Friday
The 20-year-run of Mike Goldberg as the lead play-by-play announcer with the UFC will end Friday night with UFC 207.
A number of outlets reported the news and Dana White confirmed that Friday would be Goldberg’s last event with the company. Goldberg leaving had been reported by us weeks ago when White noted that they were negotiating for his replacement publicly. The only name that has been brought up is Jim Rome, and it was Chael Sonnen who claimed that was the name.
White today said he hoped to reach a deal by July with the new announcer, who would work primarily with Joe Rogan, who WME-IMG wants to keep.
Goldberg started with UFC in 1997. In 2001, UFC interviewed people regarding replacing him and then decided to stay with him. In 2005, Goldberg was going to be hired by WWE to replace Jim Ross on Raw, but part of the deal was to no-show a live UFC event and start on Raw that same night (UFC and WWE were going head-to-head) and Goldberg ultimately turned down that deal.
As part of the deal, Goldberg was going to have to change his name because at the time, Vince McMahon hated Bill Goldberg so much he didn’t want anyone named Goldberg on Raw.
Goldberg had been the lead announcer on PPVs and FOX shows. Jon Anik had been used as the lead announcer on most of the other shows, along with John Gooden, who handles most of the European shows.
Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.