UFC 223: Jimmy Smith and Joe Rogan to call the action in three-man booth

Color commentator Jimmy Smith has only been part of the UFC family for a few months, but the company is getting their money’s worth from the former Bellator shot caller. From the FOX desk to fight previews to calling the live action from cageside, Smith has been kept quite busy by the UFC production team. His days are about to become even more packed as he’s been announced for commentary duties for UFC 223 by the organization’s coordinating producer, Zach Candito.

A few minutes later (and a text from me to let him know the cat was out of the bag), Jimmy tweeted confirmation. That’s right kids, Jimmy and Joe Rogan are going to be sharing color commentary duties in a three-man booth that will be rounded out by Jon Anik.

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Jimmy Smith

✔@jimmysmithmma

Now it’s official!! Your color commentary team for UFC 223 BRUH!!! @joerogan @Jon_Anik #UFC223

9:33 AM – Mar 20, 2018

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In a recent interview with Bloody Elbow, Smith revealed that we could see him and Rogan sharing the booth, especially since the three-man experiment has gone over very well with both fans and company brass. Seems like “Evil Joe Rogan” had a crystal ball at the time, evidenced by this excerpt from our interview with him.

Stephie Haynes: You and Joe have been friends for a long time and he was instrumental in getting you in the fold. I know you’re both color guys, but is there any possibility we get a Jimmy/Joe booth for an upcoming event?

Jimmy Smith: We certainly could. I went to Vegas and met with Dana and everybody, and one of the things they told me was, ‘We like the fact that you can do a lot of different things,’ so trying out different combinations and different teams is part of the fun. Now, they’re doing three-man booths frequently, which they didn’t do before, so something like Anik, me and Joe is certainly a possibility. It’s all up to the UFC on how they want to use me, but I’m down for anything. I can’t imagine we won’t at least once.

UFC 223 goes down on April 7, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York and features the long-awaited main event between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.