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Jim Ross Talks Battlegrounds MMA PPV, Working With Chael Sonnen, Drugs In MMA & More

Posted: Oct 3rd 2014 By: Brad Davis

On Thursday night we conducted an exclusive interview with WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross, who will be making his MMA broadcasting debut tonight for Battlegrounds MMA?s BattleGrounds O.N.E. pay-per-view from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was a pleasure speaking to Mr. Ross for almost an hour, here are the highlights:

How He Got Linked Up With Battlegrounds MMA:

?They are an Oklahoma based company and the principals, I think, have been following my work for a good while, pretty much most of their lives. I make it pretty clear, whether it be on my Twitter account or my blog, my website, I?m a big MMA fan. There?s a few bucket list things I?d like to do now that I?m not obligated to be on the road every week with WWE. They approached me and asked if I was interested, I told them I was. They worked out our arrangement with my manager.

I said there?s only two things that I need added to my contract ? I need transportation as soon as the PPV concludes to get me down to Ft. Worth, Texas so I can watch Oklahoma play TCU Saturday afternoon, because I?m a big OU supporter. The second thing I?d like to request is some input on who I work with. Because I didn?t want to work with someone that might be somewhat resentful that a non-MMA traditionalist is doing the play-by-play on the show, because they have to work with the ?wrestling guy.'?

Has He Gotten A Negative Reaction In The MMA World For His Background In Pro Wrestling?

?I actually haven?t experienced it at all. I haven?t had anybody be anything but respectful and polite in regards to my work. I?ve been asked some interesting questions. The questions that have surrounded me have been, ?What is your level of expertise?? I?m a major fan of the genre. I?ve spent hundreds of dollars in my life buying pay-per-views. I read about it, I study it, so I think I?m more than a casual fan, let?s put it that way. Am I on all the websites, am I trying to find out all the dirt and the intricacies of the fighters personal lives? Absolutely not. But do I watch the shows on FOX? Do I watch th pay-per-views? Absolutely. So, that?s kind of what I?ve been saying and the issue is that I don?t have to be the expert. That?s why Chael Sonnen?s here.?

Why He Decided To Work With Chael Sonnen:

?He was my choice to be my partner and we had never met until this week. We had talked on the phone, I knew that he was a fan of my work from back in the day. I sought him out because I thought it would be a new role for him, a new challenge. It might recharge his batteries from being a studio guy for FOX and having the issues with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. He lost his UFC job, he lost his FOX job, I thought he?s having kind of a rough year. He?s extremely talented, very bright, entertaining, informative, but he?s never done color commentary cage side. I thought maybe this would be a new adventure for him. It?s certainly a new adventure for me. Not withstanding the fact that I?ve probably done more hours calling pay-per-view television than anybody alive. So doing the fundamental things of a broadcast, I have a solid working knowledge of fights, I have a good feel for the timing but as far as being an expert of technical application of holds or counters or reversals, strategies, that?s what Chael?s here to do and I think he?s going to do a great job with it.?

?I said, ?Look, I don?t want to be a prima donna, but I think that if you look at the marketing aspect of the show, Battlegrounds MMA isn?t yet a household name and who knows? They may never be a household name. I don?t know that. But I know they?re committed to this tournament format. They like it. They?d like to do more shows. Of course, it remains to be seen how successful this one will be. It?s certainly priced fairly. $20. So, I?m thinking that there?s an opportunity for all of us, there?s an opportunity for Chael to perfect his skills in a new role, there?s opportunity for me to get a bucket list thing done. Who knows, there may be other opportunities for me going forward in MMA. You never know. So I?m approaching this form a preparation and mental standpoint that this is my WrestleMania. I?m going to do one of them, if I can do more, it would be a blessing and if I don?t do anymore, I got to do the one that I wanted to do. I got to do one. So, I?m approaching it as positively as I can. Chael and I have been kind of joined at the hip since mid-week, like 12 hours the first day we met. We had a lot to talk about, just philosophically, what my role is going to be, a lot of things.

Any time a broadcaster works with a big crew, one thing he finds is that broadcasters in every genre like working with the same producer. The same director, they want to hear that same voice in their ear. They want to have a comfort level. For Chael and I, not only are we working together for the first time, we?re working with this crew for the first time. So there?s a lot of anxiety-like issues in that respect, but nothing anymore than it would have been otherwise. There?s no way to avoid that, there?s only one first time and this is it, so I look at it more of a challenge.

We both like challenges, we?re both very competitive, I?d say that we both have sizeable egos in the fact that, in pro wrestling, if you didn?t have a sizeable ego as a defense mechanism, you didn?t last long, and I had a 40-year career in that world. So I have confidence in my ability. Some people don?t understand, my best work in pro wrestling was when I knew the least amount of details going into a match. Even though the endings were obviously pre-determined, I did better when I reacted to what I saw, organically. I was a fan, I was a student of the game, I was emotionally invested as I am with this. I watch my monitor like any other broadcaster and call it like I would if I was watching a college football game. You prepare then you let the game unfold, you let the game come to you and you document what you see. So, that?s what we?re doing here.?

Has He Had A Chance To Rehearse With Chael Sonnen Leading Up To Their Broadcasting Debut Together?

?Nope. At 9pm eastern, we?re going to do an hour of prelim fights. We?ll be able to get a little rhythm going, build some momentum. We did some stuff today with the media, it was pretty seamless, we meshed real well. I?m used to the showbiz world of pro wrestling and working with some outrageous characters as broadcast partners. When Chael is on, and he was today, he fits that mold. He can sell a fight better than anybody.?

Would Chael Sonnen Make A Good Pro Wrestling Announcer?

?Absolutely. Without a doubt. He?s really bright, he?s well-read. He gets it. He understands how to talk in sound bites, he understands when to be funny and when to be serious. He feels things.?

His Philosophy Calling Friday Night?s Fights:

?You hope that there are more dramatic moments than comedic moments. But I?ve always thought that drama in the MMA genre can be very entertaining. We need to have some drama, we need to have some comedy, we need to have surprises and I always thought that with pro wrestling, it boils down to being entertaining. I like a game of football. The game entertains me. Not the surroundings and all the ancillary stuff, but the game entertains me. So I feel the same way about what we?re doing here now. The genre entertains me because it brings real great human drama. The way I look at it, when you sign a contract with an organization like UFC, they sign you to fight maybe three times a year. For two guys this Friday night, they?re going to fight three times in one night. So they?re going to do a year?s worth of work in a 3-hour window. That?s the kind of storytelling I?m going to get in, because I don?t think there?s any holes in that philosophy.?

?We?ll find out Friday night once we go on pay-per-view. There?s no net, here it is, folks. The good, the bad and the ugly, it?s all there. I really feel good about it. I?m not over thinking it. I?m not getting lax about it. I?m not freaked out about any anxiety issues. I know what my role is, I?m going to keep the rudder in the water and I?m going to keep asking questions. I want to ask more questions and let Chael provide more answers. The last thing I want to do is insult the audience acting like I?m some closet MMA expert that nobody knew about. I?ve gotta be true to myself, I?m not an actor. I?ve gotta be honest. For better or for worse, being myself is all I can do. Being excited when there?s something to be excited about. I?ve gotta use some common sense in that regard and respect the genre. You?ve just gotta call what you see.?

?I think sometimes, broadcasters in general, this is a trend right now, they forget they?re on television and they think they have to talk wall to wall. I don?t believe in that philosophy. I think that you let the fans feel the fight, hear some of the natural sounds, the referee?s mic?d, the cameras are mic?d, there?s natural sounds that are unique, that are exclusive to the game that you should let people hear. I?d like to hear more information of what?s going on in the corner in between rounds. I?d like to hear more of the dialogue between the coaches and the fighters. The point is, if they?re shooting it, unless I?m told, I see no reason to start talking over the other audio. Some of it will be good, some of it might not be so good. But I?m not going to try to interrupt these things unless I?m instructed by the director/producer to jump in.?

?If I don?t deliver the goods, I?ll be angry with myself, but in the big picture, I got to get in the game one time. I got to suit up once. It?s a win now and I hope it?s a bigger win after the show.

Is It True Cody McKenzie Had To Draw An Ounce Of Blood To Make Weight?

?I don?t know how much blood that he gave, but I know that he gave some blood today because he was a little over. But I don?t know how much, to be honest with you. I know that he went to the blood bank in order to make weight, so that?s a fact, in that regard. It?s a crazy world, man, it?s a bizarre community.?

Who Is His Pick To Win The Battlegrounds O.N.E. Tournament?

?I asked Chael that question, he?s got three guys that he likes. Just from the fighter meetings that we had, I kind of like Brock Larson. He just seemed to be very level-headed. He wasn?t lackadaisical, he was not unmotivated, he just seemed like the was very in control. Very confident, without being arrogant. He?s the oldest guy in the tournament, he?s 37. So he showed his maturity in the fighters? meeting. He?s very prepared. He made weight at 170, he doesn?t look withdrawn or unhealthy. So that would be my pick.?

Drug Issues In MMA: Can The Sport Continue With The Status Quo?

?I think not unlike the NFL, not unlike my previous life in WWE, mixed martial arts has got to do the best job they can and a better job of monitoring these issues. Obviously until the NFL players association ratifies HGH testing, then there?s still that protection. It?s prevalent. I think it?s very widely done in the NFL, I hear that from guys that I know that play in the league. The union says ?You can?t take our players blood? or whatever the deal is. The bottom line is, everybody has to do a better job, because chemists and other people out there continue to work overtime to give certain players a competitive edge and an unfair advantage. It?s always going to be that way. You?re always going to have some dirty suppliers; you?re going to have some doctors that are unethical, unfortunately. You can?t just have a plan and say ?This is where we want to be.? You?re never going to be good. It always has to evolve, because the cheaters are going to continue doing their thing to mask that competitive edge. I think it?s definitely a top line issue. The thing about it is, it?s ridiculously expensive to do thorough random drug testing on athletes. It?s an amazing expense that has to be factored into a company?s business plan. It? a top line issue that will never go away and never be solved but always has to be addressed. Knowing that, your solution for now may not be applicable a year from now.?

Global Force Wrestling Working With New Japan Pro Wrestling:

?I think it?s a great idea. If [New Japan] want to build their brand, you?ve gotta make the product available to English speaking countries. To maximize profitability and your opportunity to grow. They also need to be very selective about who is broadcasting that event. Right now, New Japan is kind of the cool group, they?ve got some great young stars, they?re very physical, they?re more steak than sizzle, so I think for the hardcore fans, they?re the it group right now. The hardcore base is small, but vocal and loyal. So to mass market what they?re doing, they?re going to have to go to the English speaking countries where pro wrestling has been big for decades. So I think it?s imperative to have English commentary and to market their product. I think the audience is going to demand information about who are these guys. They have some great young stars, they have a unique style but you?ve got to tell your audience who they are. I think if they want to build their brand, they want to create some revenue, they have to extend into the English speaking world. That will help them enlarge their footprint, which is essential in building their company.

It is potentially a big win-win. Having done an event myself in the Tokyo Dome many years ago when I was with Turner (WCW), it?s amazing atmosphere to witness. For the fans that would tune in on January 4th, it?s a very unique atmosphere. The culture of the country is very unique. The pro wrestling lineage in Japan is long standing and has had some of the more historic wrestlers and moments in the history of the sport. There?s a long history of that, so for some fans, all of that information and that documentation, that history lesson, would be good info. I think they?re going to see an entirely different pace of the product.

New Japan is going to present a different kind of wrestling product than the North American audience is used to seeing right now. How they do, who knows. It?s all a matter of how they market it and how they promote it and how they deliver on pay-per-view. With WWE creating their own network and getting out of the PPV business, not totally but in a large part, there?s now openings for PPV products to find promotional time on cable systems. Timing wise for New Japan, it?s pretty wise. We?ll see where that goes. It?s an interesting time to be a fan of the genre.?

Would Jim Ross Be Interested In Doing Commentary For Global Force Wrestling?s First PPV?

?Yeah, I?m doing my podcast, I?m in entrepreneurial mode right now. I don?t do a lot of things that conflict with OU football, but I?m doing my podcast, it?s doing really well. We manage about half a million downloads per week and it?s growing. I?m in the process of working on my autobiography, that should be done by spring or summer 2015. I?m doing some writing for FOX, we?re talking to FOX about maybe doing some more boxing play-by-play, which I had fun doing, I?m a big boxing fan. My point is, if I like projects, if it seems like fun, if its going to be win-win for everybody involved from a business standpoint, I?m open to a lot of things ? and that would be on my list of something I?d be interested in doing if it was a good business decision and a good arrangement for both parties. I certainly would listen to what they had to say. It would be like an adventure. It?s like one of those deals where you might say, ?I can take my wife with me on this one. We may stay a week.? That kind of deal. Why not, you can make a little pay day, you fly your wife over, you enjoy the sights, you get the opportunity to do some things we haven?t had time for. You do 51 weeks of live TV a year for a quarter century; you don?t have a lot of free time. I worked 21 years for WWE without a vacation and took a vacation maybe once. So I didn?t take a lot of time off and I had a lot of responsibility. I wouldn?t change a bit of it, I loved every minute of it. But I did make sacrifices that were family-oriented and I can?t get back that time. When you?re 62, that?s one thing that you really start putting a value on, your time. So, I?m going to maximize whatever the good lord blesses me with and enjoy every day and make sure that whatever I do, I?m having fun doing it.?