Bruce Buffer has been the UFC’s lead in-cage announcer for over three decades, but even he is prone to making the occasional mistake.
At UFC Seattle, the heavyweight bout between Marcin Tybura and Tyrell Fortune came to an end, and Buffer announced that Tybura won the decision. Moments later, officials called Fortune back to the octagon and Buffer announced he made a mistake, and declared Fortune the winner.
For the first time, Buffer addressed the moment.
“Well, I mean, I’m my own worst critic, of course, and I don’t put blame on anybody else,” Buffer told MMA Fighting while promoting the upcoming Bud Light UFC Summer Series. “I’m the messenger, I’m the one that delivers it – whether there was some confusion at the commissioner’s desk beforehand or whatever, not even worth talking about. So I accept full responsibility for it.”
Following the event, UFC CEO Dana White reacted to it.
“It’s happened before,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “Buffer probably hung himself somewhere back here tonight. But yeah, Buffer is an absolute pro and very rarely does that guy make mistakes.”
Buffer was in a similar situation earlier this month at UFC 327, although things went down in a much different way. Chris Padilla was announced by Buffer as the majority draw winner of his lightweight bout with Marquel Mederos. Around an hour later, it was overturned to a majority draw due to a scoring discrepency.
This time, Buffer did his job correctly, but UFC Seattle was still fresh on people’s minds.
“Obviously it’s not an enjoyable moment because I’m a perfectionist,” Buffer said. “But it happened and rolled off, announce the winner and have to deal, all good. I mean, I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, I’ve announced thousands of fights, and I am not one to make excuses.
“Again, whether it was a situation that was caused by confusion elsewhere, doesn’t make any difference. I’m the one that delivered it. I should have cleared it up and had that cleared, unlike [UFC 327] where an hour later they turned around a decision. That wasn’t me, that was the commission. They had given me the announcement to make and it was a majority [decision], and then they changed it to a majority [draw] in that fight. Totally out of my hands, totally whatever, you know, things happen, and we just have to move on.”
Buffer is one of the faces involved in the upcoming Bud Light UFC Summer Series, which begins with UFC 328 on May 9, and includes UFC 329, UFC 330, and a pair of Fight Night cards that have yet to be announced. The series includes signature cups at events, UFC style cans, as well as a live concert on the night before UFC 329 in Toshiba Plaza outside of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The longtime voice of the octagon lets things roll off his shoulders when it comes to doing his job, and the super rare imperfections. Where he feels bad is for the fighters involved at UFC Seattle.
“Where I feel bad is that the moment I gave the fighter who thought he won, versus the moment I gave the fighter who thought he lost and then eventually won: For that, I’m dearly sorry,” Buffer explained. “I have so much respect and I’m so honored to be able to announce these amazing octagon warriors. I never want to lessen any moment in their lives, I only want to take them to the next level and heighten it as much as possible.
“So for that, I apologize, and onward and upward.”
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