Bruce Buffer on The 360 at UFC 100 and More

Courtesy of the Topps Company (etopps.com)

This article originally appeared on MMAMadness.com:

It did not take long for video of Bruce Buffer’s 360 at UFC 100 to spread across the internet.

What many people don’t know is that Buffer may have been planning the 360 for days.

“Can I do it? Yes. Will I do it? That remains to be seen,” Buffer teased during the UFC 100 Expo. “If it happens, it will probably happen during the main event. In that millisecond I will make that decision,”

As it turns out, Buffer did pull out the 360 during the main event, much to the joy of fans around the country. In retrospect, no one should have been surprised. Buffer is all about fan service.

“I feed off the energy of the crowd,” Buffer said. “I just want to do the best job I can and make the fans excited and make everyone excited about the UFC. It’s all about the fighters and the fans. I’m just there to do my job.”

A lifelong martial artist, Buffer knew that mixed martial arts was his arena to shine. He has watched the UFC grown from a struggling upstart to an international powerhouse.

“When I first started with the UFC, that classic saying of spectacle over sport was very, very true,” Buffer said. “I believed in the sport, I believed in what I was doing and I believed in the people behind it.”

For Buffer, the additions of Dana White and the Fertitta brothers to the UFC is the main reason the company in now mainstream and extremely successful. 

“When Dana White and Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta came in, I touted them as the saviors of the holy grail,” Buffer said. “They brought it to fruition, they brought us to where we are today, everybody should be thankful for that. I knew that when I saw their passion for what they were doing, matching the passion that I had for what I was doing, I knew it was going to be huge.”

The sport and Buffer have both become huge. Buffer has been immortalized in trading cards, video games, and even a life-sized cardboard cutout. Buffer has also been spending time promoting his new poker site, rumblepoker.com, where he plays poker against his fans.

“Anyone that wants to come play me at poker, go to rumblepoker.com. When you sign up, put in ‘buff200.’”

That code enables players to receive invitations to free online tournaments on the site that Buffer is playing in.

“If you knock me out, you get $100, and you get a buy-in for $60 for a bigger tournament,” Buffer said. “We will be giving away UFC tickets in the near future.”

Beating Buffer will be a task easier said than done. Buffer is a semipro player who has made it to the main table of the World Series of Poker. The website has also given Buffer the opportunity to add a new catchphrase to his repertoire.

“Find me at rumblepoker.com and knock me out!”

Cameron Gidari is the Associate Editor at MMAMadness.com. Email him with comments and questions at [e-mail] and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/cgidari