Michael Chiesa is getting a new kind of fight night walkout. The retired UFC veteran will make his official color commentary debut at UFC Shanghai on Aug. 29, joining Brendan Fitzgerald and Dominick Cruz on the call for the Fight Night card in China after a career that included a submission win over Tony Ferguson.
The news came through a fresh interview after Chiesa spent the past few years building the broadcast side of his career. He has already worked analyst desks, LFA broadcasts, Road to UFC, UFC Fight Pass Invitational shows, and Dana White’s Contender Series. Now he gets the real booth, not the warm-up act.
Here is the source post on Chiesa’s new assignment:
Chiesa said UFC broadcast director Zach Candito changed his original Road to UFC assignment and handed him his first official UFC color-commentary opportunity.
I got the call last Wednesday from my boss, Zach Candito, that I’m going to get my shot at UFC Shanghai. I was supposed to go there to commentate Road to UFC—that’s kind of my deal—and he called me and said, ‘We’re going to give you a chance.’
It’s not like I have a contract in place; we’re taking it one step at a time. But I get to do color commentary for my first official UFC event. I will be on the sticks with Brendan Fitzgerald and Dominick Cruz commentating UFC Shanghai.
I feel like the UFC has been building me up to this moment. They gave me opportunities starting as an analyst, then Fight Pass Invitational shows, LFA reps in 2021, UFC BJJ, and Contender Series. I feel very prepared for it.
Chiesa Turns The Booth Into His New Belt Chase
This is a pretty wild second act, but it also makes sense. Chiesa was never some random fighter trying to hang around the sport after retirement. He has always been a sharp talker, he understands grappling exchanges without needing a telescope, and he has enough UFC miles to know what a bad night inside the cage actually feels like.
Chiesa closed his competitive run in March with a quick submission of Niko Price in Washington. Before that, he had beaten names like Ferguson, Neil Magny, Rafael dos Anjos, Diego Sanchez, Carlos Condit, Beneil Dariush, and Jim Miller. That is a lot of hard-earned cage time to bring into a headset, especially after Chiesa already spent years giving reads on names like Leon Edwards and the welterweight elite.
He also made it clear this is not a casual desk assignment. Chiesa said falling short of a UFC championship once weighed on him, but broadcasting has given him a different finish line.
I fell short of my goal of winning a world championship, and that was very hard for me to digest. There was a point in time where I told myself, ‘If I don’t win a world title, then I failed at MMA.’
As I’ve embarked on this journey as a broadcaster, I’ve realized there have only been a handful of UFC color commentators. For me to do color commentary for an official UFC event validates my body of work and the 18 years I put into the sport. This is my world title, so I’m getting my first crack at it.
I’ve been busting my ass for this. I definitely feel like I earned it. I’m excited to show the boss what I’m capable of and see what’s to come in 2027.
I will always bring the energy. I will always show up very prepared. You can never prepare too much for any job—whether you’re flipping burgers, fighting people, or broadcasting.
I know what I’m capable of and I know I can do this, but it doesn’t hurt to lean on your peers. Working next to Dom is surreal—we go back to 2012. Life’s a trip. I’m walking in a dream right now.
Chiesa added that he has been “busting my ass” and wants to show the UFC brass what he can do. That line fits the whole lane here. The man spent years grinding through lightweight and welterweight killers, then retired with a win, and now he gets to explain the violence instead of absorbing it.
The booth matters more than fans sometimes admit. A strong color commentator can tell viewers why a takedown failed, why a fighter is stuck, and why a quiet minute is actually a setup instead of a snoozer. That is the kind of lane former fighters have chased for years, including when Jimmy Smith joined the UFC broadcast team after his Bellator run.
UFC commentary seats are not easy to win, either. The promotion has leaned on veterans and analysts in different combinations over the years, from Joe Rogan to Daniel Cormier to Dominick Cruz. Chiesa is not just getting a nice retirement gift. He is getting a live audition in front of the same fan base that will roast a bad call before the replay even ends.
UFC Shanghai already had enough intrigue before this broadcast wrinkle. Now there is another thing to track. Chiesa finally gets his crack at the booth after a UFC career that stayed interesting all the way through fights like Max Griffin’s planned Chiesa clash, and for a guy who called this his world title, the pressure is not exactly imaginary.
