Time To Go Joe? It's Time The UFC Rethink Their Broadcast Team.

Ever since UFC 37.5, Joe Rogan has been the color comentator for the UFC . Back in June 2002, having a guy like Joe Rogan, with name recognition, helped legitimize the brand. This is not to say that Joe Rogan made the UFC legit, it's just that having a known person, outside the organization, doing color commentary certainly helped. Put it this way, back in June '02, Rogan was probably more well known publicly than the UFC itself.

Now in 2010, the UFC has become a Pay-Per-View juggernaut. The brand name UFC is in fact greater than the sport (mixed martial arts, MMA) itself. Hell, more people probably now know Rogan because of UFC. There is no doubt that Rogan knows the sport, but I really think it's time that Dana White consider  shifting Rogan to the role of post fight interviewer, and replace him on color commentary. 

During Randy Couture's brief retirement, he was added to the booth. Not only did he add a new voice, but he added a point of view from someone who had been inside the octagon. Kenny Florian has even stood in for Rogan a few times and added that same cache that a fighter brings to the broadcast. The UFC owned WEC uses fighters Frank Mir and Stephan Bonner for their color commentary. It's the same reason that the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA all use former players for color commentary, people want to hear the opinions of someone who has been there and done that. It's the credibility factor that Rogan lacks.

Time and time again during the broadcast, Rogan will declare that the fight is over, only to have a hold escaped and the fight continue. Put it this way, if every time a running back busted out for 10 yards, would Troy Aikman yell that he is going to score? I am fully aware that Rogan has watched more live MMA than 99% of the world, but that does not make him a great color man. It is the color commentators job to give insight on the action. To often Rogan gets caught up in the action and forgets that his job is to analyze, not to conclude the outcome.

For a long time, I believed that Rogan was great for the UFC. He is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the sport. He was the right man for the job when the UFC was building its audience. Now the UFC has a very large audience, and as time goes by the audience is getting more savvy about the intricacies of the sport. If the UFC wants MMA to fully recognized as the sport that it is, they need to improve the announcing. Mike Goldberg's job is to call the action, and he does it very well. You need that classic announcer on play-by-play. Also, due to the unpredictable nature of MMA, it's hard to have a three man booth. Sure, during a slower paced fight, all three voices could be heard. However, you just never know what is going to happen, and you wouldn't want to have one guy who was just sitting there without adding anything.

With the first generation of MMA stars approaching the ends of their competitive careers, there are many candidates who could step in and do a good job. Maybe the answer is to make it a three man booth until that third guy is seasoned enough to take over full time. Regardless, I believe that in the long run, having a former competitor as the color analyst will help make the UFC product better.