It was announced over the weekend that Mauro Ranallo and John McCarthy have been named as the announce team for Affliction’s first-ever event on Saturday, July 19 in Anaheim, Calif.
Ranallo, a former play-by-play announcer for PRIDE, is also the play-by-play announcer for mixed martial arts events on SHOWTIME as well as a color commentator for EliteXC events that air on CBS. He also hosts a daily combat sports radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio and Hardcore Sports Radio every weekday from 3-4 p.m. ET.
McCarthy had been a long-time MMA referee before announcing his retirement last year in order to accept a dual executive-announcer with The Fight Network. He also owns a training center based out of California and is a former law enforcement official.
Affliction: Banned will be headlined by a main event featuring former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko taking on former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in a match to decide the first-ever WAMMA heavyweight champion. Other bouts slated for the card include a rematch between former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo; Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell and Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao.
source: fiveouncesofpain.com
Good to see Big John back in the mix
This is getting better all the time!
sound great.
i was slightly misled by the title of this thread.
awesome, over the last few months i have become a bigger "big" john fan.....he seems to be really smart dude
John makes anything he gets involved w/better. Class, dignity, intelligence, and integrity tend to do that. ttt for John.
Respectfully:
Fred
Cool, will be interesting to see what Big John has to author on the commentating side of things.
Very cool
No one is more knowledgeable about the competitive workings and rules of the sport than John. Great man to have in the booth.
Damn. You can't get a better commentator than Big John, man. Shit, I think only Bas and Quatros would come in dead even with him, really.
I like Big John. Although, its kinda funny how much hatred there was for the guy until he left the UFC, now he is a saint again. Kind like Sylvia, he was a joke that defined the sorry UFC HW division, now he is the best in the business colliding with a minor God in Fedor.
Explains completely why he came out and said that people should dvr the UFC and buy Affliction. He had a monetary interest.
The guy owes everything he has to the UFC and then fucks them the first chance he gets. Classy.
Mauro isn't bad at all, he did suck a bit when he first started in Pride though. His knowledge of the sport has vastly increased since then. Mir actually gets on my nerves more than anyone else as an announced now, saying how every fighter is at least great in everything.
ttt for bjm
hope he does well as an announcer. His interviews always come off good
What is WAMMA???
World Affliction Mixed Martial Arts????
BJM was a great choice!
Cindy