Yardbarker: Mike Goldberg

Mike Goldberg will commentate UFC 106

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:41:59 -0500

By Natalia Baage November 21, 2009The show must go on! And UFC commentator Mike Goldberg is willing to do it. As he missed the UFC Q&A last night, President Dana White replaced Goldberg as the Q&A host, saying that Goldberg was sick and had to go to the hospital. There was speculation about how serious Goldberg's illness was, and whether he would be healthy enough to commentate at UFC 106 tonight. Goldberg cleared up the confusion for fans, writing via Twit...

Cagewriter facepalm of the week to Versus WEC analyst Todd Harris

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:10:18 -0500

Here at Cagewriter, we pick on the UFC broadcast team of Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg quite a bit. It's out of love, though. We don't want to see Rogan or Goldberg lose their jobs, because they both bring something special to the broadcasts. Rogan's passion is palpable, and Goldberg's smooth shilling is necessary for the UFC to pay the bills. This is not true in the case of Versus' Todd Harris, who calls World Extreme Cagefighting events along with UFC heavyweight Frank Mir...

UFC 105 Recap

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:34:02 -0500

Brandon Vera has no one to blame but himself for losing the fight. He repeatedly put himself into poor position and allowed Couture to push him into the cage (Usually by swinging wildly following a break by the referee. A better idea might have been to circle towards the center then throw strikes.). He also did not try to force his way off the cage because he was worried about being taken down. Basically, he was content to sit against the cage. The judging criteria is not brand new. We al...

UFC 107: Thiago Alves vs Paulo Thiago on tap for Dec. 12

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:16:52 -0500

After weeks of speculation, MMAmania.com can confirm that Brazilian welterweights Thiago Alves and Paulo Thiago will collide at UFC 107, set for the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 12. And fans who hang on every word of UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg in search for the next big Goldie-ism are likely to find a [...]

The best of Rogan, Goldberg and 'the Voice' from UFC 102 and M-1

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:50:12 -0500

With a great weekend of fights comes a great weekend of announcing. Today, we have a bonus as Michael Schiavello, also known as "The Voice," announced the M-1 fights from Friday night, so his best is included, as well. "In the battle of these two 205-lb. up-and-comers," Mike Goldberg, about Brandon Vera and Krysztof Soszyszynski. At what point do we stop calling someone an up-and-comer? Vera has fought ten times for the UFC over the span of nearly four years. "Soszysz...

UFC 102‘s Ticket Sales, Hulk Hogan/UFC, Liddell On Simpsons

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:39:01 -0500

– During last night‘s UFC 102 PPV, announcer Mike Goldberg said regarding fighter Krzysztof Soszynski: “They thought at one point he might be the next Hulk Hogan in professional wrestling.” – Dana White said 10,000 paid for tonight’s show in Portland in his mind is a success noting the city has 12% unemployment. “Did we come [...]

Goldberg on The Road with Another Heavyweight -Shaq

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:30:00 -0500

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - Thanks to his duties as the UFC's longtime play-by-play man, Mike Goldberg has certainly seen his share of athletic giants over the years, from Semmy Schilt and Tim Sylvia, to Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, and Stefan Struve. But nothing prepared him for his latest gig - as host for the new ABC series, SHAQ VS, which sees him working with 'The Big Aristotle' himself, future NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, all 7-1, 325 pounds of him.

Backstage Creative News on the RAW Brand, Note on Big Show vs. Shaq

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:28:40 -0500

Partial source: F4Wonline - In an interesting update on the potential Shaq vs. Big Show match, it should be noted that UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg serves as a host on the new ABC series “Shaq Vs.” WWE very publicly failed to draw Goldberg away from the UFC as it prepared for its return to the [...]

I AM Impressed with your performance!

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:48:05 -0500

It’s Thursday April 16 - there is a lot of stuff going on in the city of Montreal because it’s the weekend of UFC 97. Even though I’m not fighting, I’m pretty busy training and doing a lot of PR and stuff. On Friday I was invited to a little lunch with a bunch of reporter to promote the new video game UFC 2009 Undisputed. And I had to play for the first time against Dana White in front of everybody – all the reporter. And Dana was talking very loud that he was undefeated, he was 4 and 0 and beat [Michael] Bisping, Rampage Jackson, [Rich] Franklin and then Anderson [Silva] - so it was a very good challenge. I’m not a big fan of video game - I never played UFC Undisputed before. But I used play back in the day…Mortal Combat and Street Fighter on the Super Nintendo, but this game is pretty different and much more improved than the one that I’ve played before. So I pick my character [me] and Dana picked BJ Penn, and as the fight goes on it’s pretty even. And at the end, maybe by some luck, I’m able to knock him out and win the match. Everybody is laughing and I’m the one who is the most surprised of all. And I look at Dana and I yell at him “Ha! That’s your first loss! And I made your first loss in Montreal in front of my people!”. And he look at me and he respond “Are you sure you’re not cheating? I think you put some Vaseline on my remote!”, and I laugh like crazy. Playing myself in the video game was kind of strange - and it was pretty accurate of the moves that I use in real life. They have my Superman Kick, Superman Punch, and all my special move - that’s pretty interesting. I really enjoy it and I think just because of it. I’m gonna buy a video game with UFC Undisputed because it’s a pretty fun game to play.

After beating Dana I went to the Fan Club Q&A. It was pretty fun - I could meet many fans and especially one guy made me really laugh. He asked me the question, “What you want to do after your career?”, and then I respond, “I don’t know - maybe trainer or go back to school, but I think I’m gonna still be involved in the sport because I love it too much.” And one guy yell at me “Georges St-Pierre for Prime Minister!”, and all the crowd went crazy. Mike Goldberg and everybody was laughing - it was a pretty funny moment.

Then after that I met a Canadian soldier, Jody Mitic, who lost his leg(s) in Afghanistan in the war. At first I was pretty sad to see that, but I was very impressed with the way the guy handled himself and stayed very positive. You know, sometime our life go bad, but we forget that for some people it’s even worse than for us, so it give me more motivation when I see something like that when something bad happen to me.

Then at the weigh-in, I look at my two friend Denis Kang and David Loiseau. They were right on the nose - 185. I was very happy and I went back with my manager and had a great dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cavalli.

The next day it was UFC 97. Before the show I went training and I had one of my friend who were in town, Eric Owing - he’s a great jiu-jitsu guy. I train with him before the show and then after we all head to the Belle Center for the UFC. I was very disappointed for my friend David Loiseau - unfortunately he work really hard in training camp but the fight didn’t go his way. But I had some kind of consoling when I see Denis Kang – he fought a great fight and win in a unanimous decision. I think the best fight of the night was Shogun vs. Chuck Liddell - what a great performance by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The fight at the end was pretty boring and I felt bad because sometime the crowd was yelling “GSP!” while Anderson Silva and Thales Leites were fighting. And I felt bad - I think it’s kind of disrespectful for Anderson Silva and Leites, even though it make me feel happy a little bit. Sometime the fight doesn’t happen like people want - it’s a question of style and question of match-up. But I still think Anderson Silva is one of the best pound-for-pound in the world with Fedor Emelianenko. I been screaming so much during that show because I was sitting with Lorenzo Fertitta right in front, and I was yelling instruction to my friend - so I end up losing my voice and it take me a couple of days to get back to it. (That’s why I haven’t blogged in a while.)

The Sunday after UFC 97, I head to New York for training at Renzo Gracie’s Academy with John Danaher and also at The Wat with Phil Nurse. Training was great and I had a chance to meet Brian Fox who made a painting of me. It’s the most accurate painting that I’ve seen of myself in my whole life. This guy is amazing - he’s got an incredible talent and it was a pleasure for me to meet this guy. Training is going very well. I had a chance to roll with some of the best jiu jitsu guys, spar with some of the best muay thai guys in the sport and it make me a better fighter every time.

I came back for the weekend in Montreal - time to rest a little bit and train with my home guys. But right away on Sunday I was supposed to go in Albuquerque - my plane got canceled after waiting three hour in the airport. Pretty bad - I’m very bad lucky with the plane, but it’s because of a storm in Chicago that I would have missed my connection and they decide to cancel my flight and [reschedule] it the next day. So I made it to Albuquerque on Monday - I came in Albuquerque to help out Rashad for his fight against Lyoto Machida and to be able to spar with some of the guys there to help me out, too. I think Rashad is gonna do well with Machida. Training camp is going well for him - he look very, very sharp. And I can’t wait – it’s gonna be a very interesting fight.

I want to finish by saying “thank you” to the fan who send me their logo for the contest. I have more than 500 entry. It’s gonna be very hard to pick the best one because they are all pretty good.

The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale - Hung Lo Awards

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:43:59 -0500

Saturday night in Sin City was the setting for the Season 8 Ultimate Fighter finale. The 3-hour event on SpikeTV was great, all the fights were competitive and fast-paced. Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira coached their teams of young, roudy, up-and-coming Light-Heavyweight and Lightweight fighters. There was no shortage of drama, beef, and drunken confrontations this season, and it came to a culmination at the Las Vegas Hard Rock to determine who are this season's 155 and 205-pound ...

Fight for the Troops Notes

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:04:36 -0500

RearNakedNews.com takes a look back at UFC Fight for the Troops.

"It's the Cardinals and the Chiefs in the Octagon!"

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:18:58 -0500

The Arizona Cardinals have announced their preseason broadcast personnel for the season. Former Cardinal center and Valley talk-show host Bill Lewis will handle the color commentary. And handling the play-by-play call will be none other than Mike Goldberg. Yes, that's the same Mike Goldberg who a

Random Thoughts on Affliction Banned and UFC Fight Night 14

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:09:55 -0500

-A Peruvian neck tie is sick. -Big John commentating and interviewing fighters is weird. -The Donald standing next to Fedor and Couture doesn't look right. -Fedor = myth no more. -Anderson Silva should be the next to fight Forest for the title. -Megadeath should be given a Mega-death. -Arlovski got his pit-bull back. -Hermes Franca needs to go back on steroids. -Thanks to Silva's quick work of Irvin so we could see the knock out of the night by Rory Mark...