Bruce Buffer believes he has another 10 years of being the voice of the Octagon, but explains when he knows it will be time to retire
Bruce Buffer doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon.
Buffer first worked for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, at UFC 8 in 1996, and 27 years later, he is still the voice of the Octagon. Although in 1996, the UFC was not as big as it is now, he says he pushed to get the job as he had a feeling the UFC could become the biggest thing in sports.
“Absolutely, I did. I’ll tell you why. When I first watched it, I don’t think the promoters at the time thought they would go past three or four events,” Buffer said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “But, when it got to the point when I came in at UFC 8 and did the preliminary bouts, I saw certain things happening and thought this could be the biggest thing in sports. That is the reason why I fought to get into the position of being the voice of the Octagon. As far as I’m concerned, everything I foresaw and dreamed of has happened.”
Although Bruce Buffer has already done it for 27 years and is now 65-years-old, he has no plans of stopping anytime soon. He says his voice is still as strong as ever and he can still perform at the high level he wants to.
With that, Buffer says he likely has 10 years left before he retires. But, he says if his passion wanes or he can’t move as much as he does, he says he will know he needs to retire.
“I plan on doing it for another 10 years. I’m 65 now so I plan on doing it for another 10 years. The bottom line is as long as I can physically and energetically do it the way I want to do it (I’ll still be doing it). I don’t want to be one of those announcers, with all due respect to everybody that announces that stands still and does their thing,” Buffer said. “That is all great and there is nothing wrong with that, of course, it’s fantastic, but me, I have to move, I have to enjoy, and I have to throw my passion and everything I have into that Octagon floor. I used to bang quite a bit myself and I know what it is like, you are about to go to war with somebody you are about to put your blood, sweat, and tears and your life on the line. They deserve every ounce of everything I can give them. As long as my passion stays, if my passion ever wanes for whatever I do and I feel like I’m phoning it, then it’s time to retire.”
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