BufferZone.net ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP 47: IT’S ON!


			It’s Time…To Begin! An interview with the Voice of The Octagon, Bruce Buffer Before the action starts, you will hear ‘It’s Time…To Begin!’ The crowd goes wild, the warriors battle on, the blood flies, and the aggression flows, but it is just another day in the life of the Voice of the Octagon, Bruce Buffer. Successful businessman, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, President and CEO of the multi-million-dollar company Buffer Enterprises, and he has only just begun. The 47-year-old native of Oklahoma knows how to succeed, and a compilation of dedication, determination and the guts to go for it all has landed him in the position he is now in, and that is success! Without a doubt he is a hard working individual with the mindset to get the job done and accomplish what he set out to do. With the years of experience announcing the Ultimate Fighting Championship and many other MMA events and being the holder of two black belts himself in the fighting arts, Bruce knows what it takes to be the man, and to beat the man. The years of hard work and dedication have given Bruce opportunities to license and develop toys, games and produce a movie, along with acting in the Friends sitcom and appearing in a few films and TV projects as himself. He is a celebrity among the celebrities and even though that is flattering, you can just call him Bruce. The humble hearted entertaining octagon announcer has seen his share of bouts and knows the business like the back of his hand. In this interview, Bruce gives his thoughts and opinions on the sport - which he says is the greatest sport on earth with some of the most talented athletes - and along with his prediction of UFC 50 he talks about his future and the future of the UFC and gives his secret to success along with some of the most memorable moments surrounding the octagon and his life. So sit back, read on and enjoy, and with the phrase from Bruce Buffer himself - It’s Time…To Begin. Benny Henderson Jr. - How did you get into announcing the UFC? Bruce Buffer - I’ve been the manager and partner for my brother Michael Buffer for around thirteen years now and the UFC came on the scene back in 1993. When we first started together I’d already done a lot of public speaking so I was used to performing in front of large crowds of people. I always wanted to do some announcing so when the UFC started I knew that was the place for me. But originally I had Michael involved in the show for UFC five, six and seven and then I started in number eight and did the full show in number ten and have done all the UFC shows from thirteen on with the exception of one UFC Japan show. BH - UFC 50 is around the corner and will air on Pay per View on October 22. Originally the main event was going to be the rubber match between Tito Ortiz and Guy Mezger but with Mezger dropping out due to medical reasons Ortiz will be facing Patrick Cote instead. Who do you favor in this bout? BB - I don’t know much about Patrick Cote and this is a great chance for any newcomer into the UFC to make a great showing for themselves. I hope it is an entertaining fight for the fans. On this short notice I see Tito pretty much dominating the fight, but you never know what can happen in the Octagon because MMA fighting is a chess match and anyone can turn the fight at any given moment. BH - How much has the UFC changed in the years you have been involved with it, and where do you see the UFC going in the future? BB - Basically the UFC has gone from spectacle to sport. It used to be the spectacle with basically no rules and the opponents just fought each other until one of them gave out. There were no time limits or any weight limits back then and it is a completely different animal right now. Basically it is now a legitimized sport and that has lot to do with the Fertittas bringing it to Las Vegas. With the rules they have adopted and where they have taken us in the last four years, it is on a much higher plateau, where the sport is legitimized and in my viewpoint it should be as respected as boxing or any legitimate sport that is out there with many of the greatest athletes in the world fighting in the octagon. BH - Do you believe that it will become mainstream like boxing? BB - That all depends on how it is marketed in the future, but I do believe that it will become mainstream. Certain key steps are being taken right now with the reality TV show coming on the Spike TV Network in January, The Ultimate Fighter TV Show. Also, Fox Sports Net will be showing replays of the UFC bouts. Free TV exposure brings other people into the sport as fans, and that is your main key in making this sport mainstream. Because not only do you have the diehards buying the Pay Per Views, you will bring in a lot more fans outside that will start buying the Pay Per Views. The free TV exposure is the old wrestling scenario where you have free TV, free TV, free TV and then Pay Per View. Once they get on that pattern, the same pattern boxing follows and wrestling has followed, then the UFC - with all its great athletes and the great sport that it is – will put together a mainstream powerhouse of a televised event that will make it a true mainstream sports contender. BH - You are president and CEO of Buffer Enterprises Inc. Can you give us a bit of insight on the company itself and what it does? BB - Buffer Enterprises is my personal corporation that is involved in all forms of sports and entertainment marketing and promotion internationally. Through it I manage and direct my brother Michael Buffer’s career as a spokesperson, as an announcer and his appearances in boxing and varied other sports and entertainment events internationally plus TV, radio, film and private corporate events. Plus, managing my career with all that I do internationally both in and out of the UFC Octagon. I manage all involved in the creation, development and licensing of all the toys, video games and other varied products and promotions that are created around our "Let’s Get Ready to Rumble®" trademark and other trademarks that together we’ve created surrounding that. To date, sales of our licensed products and all else have grossed approximately four hundred million dollars worldwide for our licensees internationally. BH - [Laughing] Can I borrow a dollar? BB - [Laughing] Well, granted we’ve done extremely well, but not all that went into our pockets. I have a lot of plans for our future. I have a lot of products coming out that I really can’t talk about right now but I have a personal goal to reach a billion dollars in licensed sales and further create marketing history. BH - You have become a very successful businessman and now pretty much a celebrity. What is your secret to success? BB – Well, first off I find that flattering about the celebrity status but I always say, "just call me Bruce". I believe in life we are all equal in our abilities; I am just trying to do what I love to do and I certainly enjoy the hell out of what I do. I’ve been involved in running a number of companies since I started my first one when I was nineteen years old and have learned from every success and every experience I’ve had, whether good or not. The first time you make a mistake should be a learning experience and the second time you make the same mistake then it is a mistake and you have no one to blame except yourself. The first thing anyone should do is set a realistic goal for yourself, not an unrealistic goal and when you get there, set the next realistic goal until you reach optimum success. See yourself in that position and go for it and above all keep full focus on it. The biggest problem is some people try to do too many things at once and to me if you do one thing most can do it a hundred percent and if you try two new different things then you do both 50% and so on. You should always find what you want to do and hopefully have a passion for it. Because if you have passion for it, no matter what the financial return, you will do your best to get there. I always have one philosophy, if I can make all the people around me the most money possible with everything that I am involved in, then I know that it will all come back to me and I will be financially happy. BH - In your years in the Octagon you have had to see some knockdown drag outs. Can you name a few of your most unforgettable fights that were a good impact for the fans? BB - I would say in recent years the biggest one was the Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock fight in UFC 40. That was huge. Then it was Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture. Randy Couture has probably been involved in some of the most knockdown brawls of any fighter I have ever seen in the octagon. His battles with Pedro Rizzo and Ricco Rodriguez, you could just go on and on and on. Randy Couture is the man and is the greatest overall fighter in MMA today, in and out of the octagon. But then you go back to the old days; there were a lot of great fights in the old days. This is always a very hard question for me to answer because I will probably give you about fifty fights in the next twenty minutes. BH - What match ups do you feel would ignite the UFC fans? BB - I think the biggest match up that would ignite the fans but that I am afraid is never going to happen is the match up between Randy Couture and Wanderlei Silva. To me that would be the hottest match up in the near future. I just don’t see Zuffa and the Pride organization meeting on even terms to make that fight happen. It is kind of hard when you take the two biggest organizations and say ‘hey, let’s combine a fight.’ The big question would be how they split the profits, and when you are having just six UFCs a year, the last thing you want to do is split the profits on one of those six. BH - Do you see any new fighters in the sport that could possibly be a future superstar? BB - Off the top of my head I see many in different weight divisions such as David Terrell, Yves Edwards, Hermes Franca, Lee Murray, Quinton Jackson, Fedor, Andrei Arlovski and others I’m sure if I gave it more thought. I am very bummed about Frank Mir breaking his leg because as he was maturing he had superstar status written all over him and I hope he comes back where he left off when he is healthy again. BH - What about the legends in the sport? Boxing has its Ali; who is the Ali of the octagon? BB - That has to be my man Randy Couture. In and out of the Octagon he is the best MMA role model out there. To me, being a great fighter is not just how you perform in the Octagon but the way you handle yourself outside when doing interviews and how you handle the press and the fans. To be humble in greatness and to still be a showman is to be great. Randy is to me right up there with Michael Jordan as one of the greatest athletes of my generation. BH - You have met a massive amount of celebrities in your time, who have been some of the most intriguing people that you have met? BB - I grew up in Philadelphia and Dallas and since I was 15 I’ve lived in Malibu, California where I’ve met more TV and film stars than I can remember. Steve McQueen was one of the coolest and biggest stars Hollywood has ever seen plus a friend of mine up till the day he died of cancer at 50 years old in 1980. Since then I’ve met and spent time with tons of celebrities, but I’m not easily impressed and more often than not a little disappointed from what you’d expect from their on screen persona. But since you asked here you go with a few names from the intriguing and cool star list… James Caan, Brad Pitt, The Rock, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and many others. I’d like to give you a few of the ones I consider insecure horses asses or punks, but if I can’t say something nice about someone, I won’t say anything at all. BH - What plans do you have for the future? BB - I have a lot of plans surrounding building and maintaining my various business ventures. I have been working with my brother Michael announcing a lot of HBO undercards and I’m sure more boxing is in my future at the time that we deem proper. I’ve been in a good amount of TV shows and films and definitely enjoy the opportunities when they arise. I just did a voice over for Clint Eastwood’s new movie titled "Million Dollar Baby" which was very cool for me. I was just offered to be the announcer for the upcoming "Contender" boxing reality series on NBC by Mark Burnett who created "Survivor". This would have been a huge opportunity for me but I made the decision to turn it down, which was mainly due to the fact that the second production date for me to appear was the same night as UFC 49 and I wanted to be in the Octagon, as I have been consistently for the last nine-plus years. Luckily, I am in a solid position in my life to have made that choice, along with a few other considerations affecting my decision. To me this just means more opportunities lay ahead for me to choose from in the future. The UFC and MMA are very important to me and I’ve spent a lot of my own time and money over the years promoting and creating opportunities through my contacts to help promote the UFC, whether it be the first appearance on FOX Sports Net’s Best Damn Sports Show Period or the Jay Leno show, amongst other promotional avenues I feel would be great for the UFC and MMA as a whole. I’ll never rest doing what I can do to promote this great sport and hopefully see top MMA fighters earning the kind of money boxers who are on the same level in their sport make. For Zuffa to have taken over the UFC was a godsend for MMA, and slowly but surely Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta are making the forward progress needed to hopefully make this happen and I’m proud to be part of their team. I’ll probably retire from a lot of the business I do years into the future, but I will always enjoy traveling the world announcing for the UFC and quality MMA events. There’s nothing like having the best seat in the house, watching your favorite sport and getting paid well to be there. BH - What advice would you give to somebody wanting to fight in the UFC, and is there anything you would like to say in closing? BB - Believe in yourself and your abilities. Cross train to be the best and especially work on your striking, which leaves a lot to be desired in MMA with the exception of a choice few. Go for greatness but always remember to be humble while being entertaining. Be a role model for MMA and always be respectful towards others. And when the time comes that I am in your face and announcing your name in the Octagon, remember all that it took to get there and go out and give it your best, because whether you win or lose at that moment, you have truly achieved greatness for your life, and in my eyes, you are a winner. Thanks for the interview. MMA fans are the best fight fans in the world and I’ll see you all from the Octagon.