Joe Rogan actively lobbying UFC to hire ex-Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith.
Jimmy Smith, a veteran color commentator who served Bellator MMA, for many years and recently parted ways with the promotion.
Bellator released a statement which stated that commentator Smith mutually agreed to part way with the Bellator promotion.
Smith, no doubt is one of the sharpest minds in combat sports, which is why UFC commentator Joe Rogan lobbying UFC to scoop up the Smith.
Jimmy Smith recently appeared on Joe Rogan’s MMA podcast on Tuesday, where he revealed about his departure with the second biggest organization in MMA. (transcript via MMAFighting)
“It’s not a Bellator thing,” said Smith. “They were great to work with. They were great about the whole break up thing. What happened was, I had a deal with an option year and 2018 was my option year and when I was in Verona, New York doing the Verona show, my boss sat me down and said, ‘We’re not gonna renew 2018, we want a different deal.’
“When they come to you and say they want a different deal, it’s never – when you’re girlfriend comes to you and says she wants to talk it’s never, ‘I don’t give enough bl**jobs.’ They never say that. It’s always bad. It’s always bad.
“So that was it. When they were like, ‘We want to change the deal around,’ I was like, ‘Okay,’ and they did make an honest effort to keep me. They really tried, but they just didn’t make an offer that was worth me coming back. That was pretty much the deal so it’s kind of comparatively amicable.”
Jimmy Smith certainly at some point would like to get back into calling fights business again. Joe Rogan hinted that he is campaigning for Smith in UFC and it’s up to promotion if they want the veteran color commentator. Rogan also said he mentioned Smiths name to Dana white four years back for a position in UFC.
“I called Dana White about you, how many years ago, like four?” said Rogan. “I tried to get Jimmy Smith hired by the UFC four years ago. I was like, ‘Dude, you want better people, you want more people? Hire that f*cking guy. He knows what he’s doing, he’s excited, and he loves the sport. I was telling him you’re a great guy, he’s genuine, he’s a real fan and he’s f*cking good at it. Go get him.’”
As of now, Smith is unemployed and said the timing wasn’t good in the past and suggested things could be different now.
“You f**ked up, Bellator,” said Rogan. “You f**cked up. I’ve been telling everybody that Jimmy Smith’s the best out there and you let him go. That’s a huge error on their part. I would be thrilled if somehow or another they were able to work it out where Jimmy Smith was at the UFC. That would be what I would like to see.”
“We shall see,” responded Smith. “We shall see how that goes.”
