James Smith (born September 2, 1977) is an American

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

and former mixed martial artist. He was the co-host of the television show '' Fight Quest'', with Doug Anderson, on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

. He is also a former commentator for Bellator,

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

, Premier Boxing Champions and WWE’s Raw brand. He is a former host for ''

American Ninja Warrior ''American Ninja Warrior'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''ANW'') is an American sports entertainment reality show based on the Japanese television reality show ''Sasuke (TV series), Sasuke,'' which also serves as a successor of ''American Ninja C ...

'' in 2010–2011.

Early life

Smith was born on September 2, 1977. He was a former high school wrestler and teacher. He attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in college but at that time, they did not have a wrestling team so some students who wrestled in high school would meet at the Wooden Center to wrestle. He was introduced to Brazilian jiu-jitsu when during one of their wrestling sessions a BJJ instructor invited him to attend a class that night at the same room. After graduating Smith trained at Team Punishment.

Mixed martial arts career

Smith had planned to attend

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

at UCLA but did not get admitted. He decided to turn pro in MMA and accepted a fight on 2 days' notice in a regional unsanctioned event, he won the fight in 30 seconds with an

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armpit lock is very useful; it will immobilize an opponent and pin them on the ground. An armlock t ...

. He had a total of 6 MMA fights and only lost 1. He decided to quit fighting after getting accepted for a job as a host for the

's show '' Fight Quest''.

Commentary career

Mixed martial arts and boxing

Smith got an audition for Fight Quest a week after his last fight and got the job. He hosted Fight Quest for 2 seasons with Doug Anderson. It last aired on October 3, 2008. After Fight Quest, he received an email from

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

's former VP, Jerry Millen, to do an

M-1 Global M-1 Global (Mixfight-1) or MMA-1 (Mixed martial arts-1) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in St. Petersburg, Russia which organizes between 10 and 20 competitions per year. It hosted its first major show (rather than co-promoting with oth ...

show in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

as they needed a color commentator last-minute. Millen had seen Fight Quest and sent a message to both Smith and Anderson and whoever got back first would have gotten the job. He got the job and that's how he transitioned from MMA to hosting to commentating. In 2010, Smith started to be the color commentator for Bellator in season 2 after their TV-deal agreements with

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

. In the same year, Smith started to host ''

'' for its second season. Smith co-hosted American Ninja Warrior until the third season before being replaced by Jonny Moseley for the fourth season. On March 13, 2015, Smith provided co-hosting duties together with former

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

champion Antonio Tarver for Premier Boxing Champions. On December 28, 2017, Bellator announced that they have parted ways with Smith after a 7-year run. On January 12, 2018, Smith signed with the

. On January 1, 2019, Smith revealed that UFC did not renew his contract as a commentator. On March 8, 2019, it was announced that Smith joined

Invicta FC Invicta Fighting Championships, also known as Invicta FC, is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion dedicated to women's mixed martial arts that was founded in 2012 by Janet Martin and Shannon Knapp. The promotion is current ...

as a commentator.

Professional wrestling

On May 26, 2021, WWE named Smith as play-by-play commentator for ''

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Netflix. The show features character ...

'', replacing Adnan Virk. On October 6, 2022, Smith announced his departure from WWE and was replaced by Kevin Patrick.

Personal life

Smith has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo "Rey" Diogo.

Mixed martial arts record

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Jason Chambers Jason Chambers (born March 23, 1980, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, mixed martial artist and sports commentator. Chambers is best known for his role as the host of the popular weekly television program '' Human Weapon'' on The Histo ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jimmy 1977 births American color commentators American male mixed martial artists American sports podcasters American male sport wrestlers Amateur wrestlers Mixed martial artists from California American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Mixed martial arts people Welterweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Living people Sportspeople from Fresno, California American professional wrestling announcers WWE Raw