Jim Ross Discusses His MMA Announcing Debut & Plans

Jim Ross recently appeared on The MMA Hour, discussing his MMA announcing debut for BattleGrounds MMA in October. Here are the highlights…

On How He Got The Job: “The folks at BattleGrounds are Oklahoma-based guys. They contacted me and asked if I had an interest. I think they followed me on Twitter and know I have an interest in a lot of things. Doing play-by-play of an MMA event was a bucket list thing for me. It’s a new challenge, a new gig, a new opportunity. We were able to work it out. I suggested, I thought Chael would be a great partner. I’ve worked with a lot of explosive, controversial broadcasters in my day, including former Gov. Jesse Ventura, Jerry Lawler, Paul Heyman and many others. It felt right. I felt we’d have good chemistry. I don’t know. It may be a train wreck, but I assure you, it won’t be boring.”

His Thoughts on Taking The Job: “I don’t want to do it if I can’t be good at it,” he said. “I respect the genre immensely. I’ll always be my own worst critic. If I don’t think I can do a great job, or at least evolve into doing a great job, I’d rather let someone else have the chair. Right now, it’s a one-time hit.”

On His Role at The Show: “I’m a story teller and Chael’s the expert,” he said. “I’m the point guard. I’ll ask questions and call the action. I’m not taking it for granted, but I think that I’m mentally ready to do it. I’m a big fan. I watch hours and hours of MMA. When you come from my background as a broadcaster, I listen intently to everyone, the UFC guys, I’m a big fan of Mauro Ranallo from Strikeforce, I listen to everybody and that will be good.”

On Working With The Controversial Sonnen: “He cheated and he got caught,” Ross said. “No excuses. He and I have talked several times. I’m not the greatest shoulder to cry on, nor did he want to do that. He knows what he did was wrong. My story to him was that wasn’t the end of your journey. You have to start another one. Even though he’s never done color cageside commentary, I said, `We’ll have a blast. You’ll get the ball. I’ll ask questions.’ I want him to be the star of the show on the broadcast team. I know what my role is. “I hope people can look back at that tape and say, ‘Chael’s great in this role.’ Maybe it’ll open doors for him down the road for this organization or others. We’ve all made mistakes,” he said of Sonnen’s situation. If I lost respect for everyone I’ve worked with or knew who made a mistake, especially in a business like pro wrestling where you can count on guys making mistake, big mistakes, small mistakes, forgiveness is a good trait to have. He messed me around even, because I loved hearing him on FS 1 in the studio. I thought he was the star of their studio team, and they have good guys, but he was the star in my view.”

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