När UFC skrev kontrakt med den före detta Bellator-kommentatorn Jimmy Smith ansåg de flesta att detta skulle bli något positivt. Drömlaget, Joe Rogan, Jon Anik och Jimmy Smith. De flesta blev nog förvånade när de fick höra att hans kontrakt inte förlängdes av UFC. Samtidigt har nog de flesta märkt att Smith varit märkligt frånvarande från de större galorna under den senaste tiden.
Smith gästade The MMA Hour och berättade för Luke Thomas om hur han upplevde allt och när han började ana oråd.
“My first inkling was Nov. 3,”
“Was my first big light bulb, I was supposed to do [Daniel] Cormier-{Derrick] Lewis, it was supposed to be me, [Jon] Anik, and [Joe] Rogan. And then I got an email about 10 days before and they said, ‘yeah there have been some card changes, so we’re moving the talent around. We want you to do the Moncton, Canada show. And I go to my computer and I pull up the bout sheets and I’m like, there haven’t been any card changes something’s up, that was my first inkling something was up.”
Kort därefter fick Smith rätt i sitt oråd då UFC berättade att de inte tänkte förnya hans kontrakt. Han blev tillsagd att de kommer fylla ut hans plats i båset med gästfighters istället.
“Very simply it was, you’re great, fantastic, we love everything you did,”
“We’re going with UFC fighters for 2019, so, that’s it. I don’t think I’m leaving out any syllables. It was literally that was the conversation, it was, we love everything you did, fewer shows, we’re going with UFC fighters for those shows. That was it.”
Smith har varit involverad som MMA-kommentator sen 2006 och spenderat 8 år i Bellator. Han säger själv han visste att det fanns en risk med att acceptera ett kontrakt på enbart ett år från UFC.
“I took a big risk and I knew that,”
“And what happened was, my contract with Bellator was up and they wanted to kind of renew the one that I had, it’s a long story but the UFC came to us and said ‘look, we don’t know where we’re going in 2019.’ the ESPN deal hadn’t been signed. So, their thing was, we think he’s talented, we think he’s great, we’d love to have him on the team. We can’t do more than a year deal because we don’t know where we’re going no one has anything past 2018.’
Smith fortsätter.
“So I called around some people that I knew in the UFC, Anik and stuff like that, and I said ‘what’s going on?’”
”And [they] said ‘yeah, we have no idea what’s going on past 2018, everybody is kind of in the same boat.’ And I said okay, this is kind of a risk signing a contract for just a year. But I gotta take the leap and try, I have to do what I can. I took a big gamble and I here I am.”
Smith säger dock att han delvis förstår UFC beslut att använda fighters istället.
“Hey, when you’re done you’ll get air time. What is the message that sends to people who are fighting? if you’re on the team, you will get air time. If you play ball, you will get air time. You might get a desk job. These guys don’t have a parachute. They don’t have anything at the end. So another incentive is you might be on commentary team. So even beyond what the fans think and all these things, it’s also from their point of view, everything is in-house. People might be at the career, might need a little incentive, what do you do? Well, hey, you might be able to go on the FOX desk, you might do this, might do that, might have something when it’s all over.”
Angående sin egen karriär är det dock lite svårare. Bellator har sina planer satta för hela 2019 så Smith sitter för första gången på länge helt utanför MMA-scenen. Han surar dock inte för detta utan väljer istället att se det positiva.
“Everything is open, everything is an option. I’ve been in MMA 20 years, I’ve been in broadcasts since 2006, 12 years, 13. Yeah, you keep going because this is what I got good at this is what I’ve excelled. So yeah I’m going to keep plugging away and being open to everything and see what happens,”
Hela intervjun med Luke Thomas finns att lyssna på här ovan.
