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07th Feb 2017

With Mike Goldberg gone, this is the commentary team for the first UFC pay-per-view of the year

Three-man booth

Darragh Murphy

The first UFC pay-per-view of 2017 is on our doorstep and that brings about the question – just who will be calling the fights on Saturday night?

The last pay-per-view that the promotion put on was on December 30, when veteran play-by-play commentator Mike Goldberg bid farewell to the fight fans who had grown so accustomed to his voice over the biggest fights in the organisation’s history.

“Happy new year everyone. So long,” was Goldberg’s final message during his last broadcast for the company with which he’d worked for since 1997.

The UFC made it plainly clear that they intended to move in a new direction with their broadcast team following on from last summer’s WME-IMG acquisition.

“This has been my dream to assemble this dream team of commentating and I’ve wanted this guy for years and I’m working on it and it’s going to happen,” UFC president Dana White told Sportsnet last year.

“Joe Rogan in my opinion is the greatest to ever do it.”

That dream team, rumoured to involve broadcasting legend Jim Rome, has yet to be assembled but with Goldberg gone and the first UFC pay-per-view of 2017 set to take place this weekend, what do the UFC have in store for us?

Well, according to MMA Fighting reporter Ariel Helwani, we’re set to receive a three-man commentary team (a rarity from the UFC) for UFC 208, the card that will be headlined by the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title fight between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.

Joining colour commentator Joe Rogan cageside will be Jon Anik, who typically covers all UFC Fight Nights and Fox events, as well as reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, whose input thus far as a commentator and analyst has been praised by viewers.

Here’s what fans made of the news…

https://twitter.com/OnDeckManny/status/828051073235456001

https://twitter.com/8ballSprts/status/828055753214697472