Number two is I love the hell out of it! If you go deep into something and you don’t really love it, it’s going to be a chore. It’s been the best job because it’s been the first job I’ve had where it’s hyper-focused on one thing and you can really go just as deep as you want into it. But I did well enough that I got the thumbs-up from Dana and company and here I am all these years later. I auditioned for that with very little experience in the world of MMA in terms of knowledge. Then after ESPNU they were looking for broadcasters for Dana White’s Contender Series when it launched in 2017. You go a little more in-depth on certain subjects. That got a little bit more specialized in that it was only college sports, mainly college football and basketball. Then I went to ESPNU to cover college sports. Got to my home city of Boston, covered Boston sports for a couple years and that was amazing. So I did that at a handful of different stations. And so I came up by being the local sports guy on a local NBC or CBS affiliate, the guy that comes on at the end of your local news and does the highlights for three to five minutes and then “back to you on the news desk.” My dream job was always to be an anchor on Sportscenter be a studio guy who did highlights, interviews and that sort of thing. For those that might not know, can you tell that story again?īrendan Fitzgerald: I always wanted to work in sports broadcasting, and what I wanted to do changed over the years. UFC: You didn’t have the most traditional path to the UFC broadcast booth. UFC News caught up with him for a long-overdue check-in during a rare break in the action. His status as the “new guy” quickly metamorphosed into a personality indivisible from the UFC universe. The “little bit” Fitzgerald speaks of is going on four years now, first with the inaugural Dana White’s Contender Series and then a seamless transition to UFC Fight Night coverage, where he regularly shares the booth with the likes of Paul Felder, Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz. I think I was overlooking that at the beginning, and once I started taking that into account, I’ve been able to get a little better prepared with it.” But we are kind of asking a lot out of our bodies to sit there, be on high alert for six, seven hours at a time, using your voice a lot. “I try to give my body a boost because I think what I realize after doing this job for a little bit is that even though we’re just sitting there-on the surface we’re sitting there watching TV-watching a monitor and talking. The Trilogy Concludes July 10 | Order UFC 264: Poirier vs McGregor 3 It’s become a mini-ritual for me.įor many, the prospect of hosting a lengthy international television broadcast would be “something hard.” But staying golden-voiced and poised while covering the most wildly unpredictable sport in the world is where Fitzgerald continues to make it look easy. So now that we’re at home, it’s like, mimic that however you can. Get through something.’ I always used to get up and do a run or a walk around the city wherever our fight nights were. I was just like, ‘I need to do something hard every day. I might as well use my legs and stand up and run around while I can, knowing that I’ll be in front of a TV monitor and calling the fights. We’re going to be sitting there for six and a half, seven hours. “I find to get some energy out almost brings me energy, too.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |