Mike Goldberg: 98% of fans appreciate the work
Bruce Buffer returned to The Sherdog Radio Network Tuesday for another edition of “IT’S TIME!!!” Joining him was UFC play-by-play…
Bruce Buffer returned to The Sherdog Radio Network Tuesday for another edition of “IT’S TIME!!!” Joining him was UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg. The two men talked about the recent UFC 134 card, the direction of the company, and their roles inside and out of the octagon.
I just always prided myself on being the best that I can be. I don’t compare myself with others, I don’t compare myself to be better than others or not as good as others or do this better. What I want to do is challenge myself to be the best in the world and that’s what I’ve always tried to do.
“What we do is very subjective, you know, it’s ketchup and mustard. Somebody wants ketchup on their burger, somebody wants mustard on their burger, and for some people you put mustard on a burger and they won’t eat it and I’m fine with that, that’s always going to exist in our line of business.
“That said, though, I mean, I do everything I can to be prepared, I do everything I can to be perfect every night and, you know, it makes me chuckles, sometimes, you know, the way the fans are. But, for the most part, 98% of the people who listen to what you and I do on a very regular basis appreciate our professionalism, appreciate our energy, our enthusiasm, and like our work and feel like we’re an integral part of what UFC is all about, that we make it even more special than the fighters do themselves.
Everybody’s replaceable, you know, the sport is what it is really all about and I know that and that’s why I believe that I’ve been able to keep my edge for so many years is that I realize that, you know, as much success as we’ve all had that we’re all very replaceable and we’re all very blessed to be in the position that we are. So, I just want to keep on the ride, do some shows on Fox, continue to go to great places.
“I had a full disc replacement two weeks ago today and six days after disc replacement I had my pain killers and my seat on the long flight and I was in a lot of pain but there’s no way I would miss a UFC, especially not a historic event like we’ve just experienced in Brazil.
There’ve been things that people have said over the years, you know, I actually take everything to heart. I also realize the source of much of it but there’s certain things that somebody might have blogged this or that and I kind of went, you know, I didn’t really realize I was doing that. I’ll go back and I’ll listen to the tape and I’ll go, that was actually a good suggestion or great catch, I’d forgot about that Brazilian fighter who had won a title and stuff and I think people forget that, you know, we’re human beings.
I mean, everybody wanted to get all over me when you look at the tape of Sean Sherk & Evan Dunham, it looks like Sherk tapped on the way down, it absolutely 100% looks like he tapped and I say ‘it’s all over!’ prematurely one time in 2,000 fights and everybody wants to have a big hey day about it but, yet, when I was very patient and watched very closely Herb Dean not stopping the fight with Rousimar Pahlares, not saying ‘it’s all over,’ nobody wants to say anything.
“And, again, I’m not the kind of guy who lives by the edge of that sword, if you did we would have found a mountain to jump off of a long time ago, you’d have to keep all sharp objects away from us. It is what it is but I greatly appreciate it but my point more so is a positive one is that I appreciate the feedback and I appreciate when people catch things that can help me be better because, at the end of the day, we’re servants for the fans and we want to be able to keep the masses happy. You’re never going to keep everybody happy but you want to keep as many people happy and as entertained as possible and I take a lot of pride in that (whether) it’s the UFC, if it’s the NFL, the NHL, college football studio on Fox, whatever it is, it’s kind of always been my philosophy.
I had biceps tendon surgery on a Wednesday and called BJ Penn/Sean Sherk years ago with a cast from my wrist all the way up to my shoulder on a Saturday and I was really hurting during that show and we had a tailor actually take the inside of my suit out and then put like elastic in it so that my suit coat could go over so on the air you couldn’t really tell other than it looked like I was flexing my arm the whole time, but when I was talking to Joe (Rogan) you couldn’t event tell but I had a full cast four days after biceps tendon surgery, so it shows what it’s about and I wouldn’t miss one… you’d have to keep me down pretty good if I’m ever going to miss (a UFC).-making UFC fight performances”
