Mike Goldberg (born November 24, 1964) is an American play-by-play commentator currently working with

BYB Extreme Fighting Series BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing, founded as BYB Extreme Fighting Series (BYB), is a bare knuckle fighting organization founded in 2015 by former MMA fighter Dhafir ("Dada 5000") Harris and Mike Vazquez, former owner of NASCAR team HRT Motorsports. Ha ...

and ProBox TV, both alongside color commentator

Paulie Malignaggi Paul Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an Italian-American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst, currently with BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle Fighting Series and P ...

. He is mainly known for his work with the

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

from 1997 until his departure in 2016. He also worked for

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) was an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney and operated until 2025. The promotion takes its name from ''wikt:bellator, bellātor ...

from June 2017 until April 2021.

Broadcasting career

Born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Goldberg graduated from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

. Goldberg also served as studio host for

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

telecasts on FSN, as well as ACC Sunday Night Hoops, he also appeared as a guest host on ''

The Best Damn Sports Show Period ''The Best Damn Sports Show Period'' was an American sports television show that aired on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entert ...

'', and has been heard on

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

pre-season telecasts. He is the former TV play-by-play announcer for the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

, and ESPN2 hockey, where he was paired with

Brian Engblom Brian Paul Engblom (born January 27, 1955) is a Canadian ice hockey broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and a former professional hockey defenseman. He was a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens. Biography Engblom was ...

, broadcasting over 900 NHL Games. On December 21, 1997, Mike Goldberg made his UFC debut as commentator for UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan (also known as UFC Ultimate Japan or UFC 15.5) The event took place in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan, and was available on pay-per-view in the United States. From 2000 to 2002, Goldberg was a sideline reporter for the ''

NFL on FOX The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...

''. In 2005, Goldberg was offered a contract to work for

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWE), to be the head announcer on WWE's flagship show

WWE 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 television, live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Netflix. The show fe ...

. Ultimately, Goldberg refused the WWE contract and signed a new deal with the UFC. During his tenure with

SportsChannel Chicago Fox Sports Net Chicago (often branded as FSN Chicago) was an American regional sports network that was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and was owned by Cablevision for most of its history (from 1987 to 2005). News Corporation acquired a minori ...

, he served as sideline reporter for the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

, including the Bulls' 1991, 1992 and 1993 World Championships. He has also called Big Ten, ACC and SEC college football and basketball games. Goldberg also served as the host of

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

's sports reality television show '' Shaq Vs.'' On October 12, 2014, Goldberg made his NFL play-by-play debut. His foray into NFL announcing lasted just one game, as his mistake-filled broadcast, which included repeatedly referring to

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

coach Mike Zimmer as

Don Zimmer Donald William Zimmer (January 17, 1931 – June 4, 2014) was an American infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). Zimmer was involved in professional baseball from 1949 until his death, a span of 65 years, across 8 d ...

, was widely panned. Afterwards, he engaged critical fans on Twitter with profane responses. This led to his swift removal from the following week's broadcast (replaced with

Tim Brando Tim Brando (born February 27, 1956) is an American sportscaster with Fox Sports. Formerly with CBS Sports, Raycom Sports, ESPN and SiriusXM, Brando has primarily covered NCAA football, basketball and the NBA. Along with radio duties, Brando has ...

) and the end of his NFL broadcasting career. On December 28, 2016, the UFC announced that Goldberg would be leaving the promotion following

UFC 207 ''UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) held on December 30, 2016, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Background The even ...

. On June 24, 2017, Goldberg made his

debut at Bellator 180 in

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. In April 2021, it was announced that Goldberg and Bellator had parted ways. He is known for his catchphrase "It is all over!", often said when a match ends in a knockout or submission.

Personal life

Goldberg's father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic. Goldberg identifies as Christian and relatives of his died during the holocaust. Goldberg is married to Kim Goldberg and has a daughter named Kiarra Goldberg who is an actress, and a son named Kole Goldberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Mike 1964 births Living people 21st-century American Jews American television sports announcers Jewish American sports announcers Arizona Cardinals announcers Arizona Coyotes announcers College football announcers Detroit Red Wings announcers Miami University alumni Minnesota Wild announcers Chicago Bulls announcers Mixed martial arts broadcasters NFL announcers National Hockey League broadcasters NBA broadcasters Sportspeople from Cincinnati