For a long time, if you said Bellator MMA, you also said Jimmy Smith, broadcast extraordinaire who spent over seven years with the company through their rise in MMA. After a one-year run with the UFC, Smith would go on to become a radio host on Sirius XM and spent time broadcasting WWE matches which would see him also call a Wrestlemania event during his tenure there.
Jimmy Smith Returns to Bellator’s Broadcast Team
His most recent venture, saw him take on hot topics in the sport as well interviews with the biggest name in combat sports as a host of Sirius XM’s ‘Unlocking The Cage’ from September of 2020 until May of this year, when another new announcement was made. After nearly four years on the radio, it was announced that Smith would return to Bellator broadcasts and he will do so this weekend at the Bellator Champions Series in Dublin, Ireland. Making his return to the commentary both will give fans a reminder of the exquisite versatility Smith has as a broadcaster, but also shows the continuous effort made by Bellator to better their product.
Speaking to MMASucka.com ahead of his return to the broadcast booth, Jimmy Smith discussed what led to his return, what it feels like to come home to Bellator, and the different experiences he’s had since his first departure from the company. The conversation to return back to Bellator and getting back into color commentary which he hasn’t done in six years, was one that felt like a homecoming but not the home that he remembers since Bellator merged with the PFL earlier this year.
“There was that coming home feeling but there’s also that saying you can’t ever go home. The excitement of it, there’s new people, new directors. It’s funny, all the directors and producers I worked with at Bellator when we were on Viacom all texted and called me to congratulate me, but they’re not all there. It’s also naive and foolish to think it’ll be just like it was, it’s going to be totally different as far as the personnel, and that kind of makes it cool. I’ve worked with Dan Hardy before, I’ve never worked with Sean O’Connell but I know him, it’s that mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar.”
The familiar is Smith, and while he may be unfamiliar to some new fans or those who have not watched Bellator in the years he’s been gone, he’s back home. Business continues to change and grow through the first year of the PFL and Bellator merger, but bringing Smith back to the broadcast will inject new, yet familiar, energy to the Bellator events.
Watch the video above for the full interview with Jimmy Smith.
