{"id":267755,"date":"2018-01-12T10:09:23","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T18:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=267755"},"modified":"2018-01-12T10:11:25","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T18:11:25","slug":"breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING | Former Bellator Commentator Jimmy Smith Hired by the UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of December, fans were shocked that <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/longtime-color-commentator-jimmy-smith-no-longer-bellator\/\">Jimmy Smith and long-time employer Bellator parted ways<\/a>. Although, the silver lining quickly showed itself on Monday when Smith said he&#8217;d know about <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-expects-new-home-within-week\/\">his next job within the week<\/a>. Sure enough, the news was released today as per an official UFC press release. Jimmy Smith just got picked up by the UFC to join the broadcast team and will be getting to work as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI am honored to join the world\u2019s premier combat sports brand in 2018. It is a privilege to call fights for a living and I can\u2019t wait to join the tremendous UFC broadcast team to call the best fights in the world. &#8220;To the UFC fans, I am thrilled to join you for this wild ride. See you all very soon!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Jimmy Smith via official UFC press release.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Big congrats to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnMcCarthyMMA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JohnMcCarthyMMA<\/a> on his new gig as Bellator color commentator!! Couldn\u2019t have picked a more knowledgeable and respectful replacement for me! Wish him all the success in the world!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jimmy Smith (@jimmysmithmma) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jimmysmithmma\/status\/950814231376506880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 9, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to have Jimmy Smith join the UFC production team and look forward to working him into a variety of different on-air talent roles. Jimmy\u2019s extensive experience in mixed martial arts gives him a unique voice and great insight to breakdown the intricacies of our sport. We are excited to welcome him to the family.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 UFC vice-president Craig Borsari via official UFC press release.<\/p>\n<p>It looks like Jimmy Smith will have a lot on his plate with the UFC taking advantage of his talents. His duties are going to include\u00a0UFC broadcasts for FOX, pay-per-view events, and pre-fight programming. He&#8217;ll get put to work immediately according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2018\/1\/12\/16884664\/veteran-color-commentator-jimmy-smith-signs-with-ufc\">an additional report by MMA Fighting&#8217;s Ariel Helwani<\/a>. He&#8217;ll be reporting for desk duty for next weekend&#8217;s big UFC 220 card in Boston.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article first appeared on <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\">BJPenn.com<\/a> on 1\/12\/2018.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of December, fans were shocked that Jimmy Smith and long-time employer Bellator parted ways. Although, the silver lining quickly showed itself on Monday when Smith said he&#8217;d know about his next job within the week. Sure enough, the news was released today as per an official UFC press release. Jimmy Smith just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54442,"featured_media":267144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39430],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING | Former Bellator Commentator Jimmy Smith Hired by the UFC | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING | Former Bellator Commentator Jimmy Smith Hired by the UFC | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the end of December, fans were shocked that Jimmy Smith and long-time employer Bellator parted ways. Although, the silver lining quickly showed itself on Monday when Smith said he&#8217;d know about his next job within the week. Sure enough, the news was released today as per an official UFC press release. Jimmy Smith just [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-12T18:09:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-12T18:11:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Jimmy-Smith.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Golightly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Golightly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Golightly\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/522e5fec9637cffa3bac682a2da4afa2\"},\"headline\":\"BREAKING | Former Bellator Commentator Jimmy Smith Hired by the UFC\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-12T18:09:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-12T18:11:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\"},\"wordCount\":332,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Jimmy Smith\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\",\"name\":\"BREAKING | Former Bellator Commentator Jimmy Smith Hired by the UFC | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-12T18:09:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-12T18:11:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/breaking-former-bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-hired-ufc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Jimmy Smith\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jimmy-smith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"BREAKING | Former Bellator Commentator Jimmy Smith Hired by the UFC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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