00:00Welcome back to Against the Cage. Scott Fontana here with the man, the myth, the legend, the veteran voice of
00:05the Octagon, Bruce Buffer.
00:07We are at Smith & Walensky's, where he has been serving up stakes to us media folks while in town
00:12for UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden.
00:15Now, Bruce, obviously, you know, this is kind of taking you back to maybe an earlier part of your career,
00:20right?
00:21My very first job, I mean, outside of being a paperboy and stuff, was waiting on tables and bus playing.
00:26And obviously, the Bud Light here has an impressive box that they've come out with. Tomahawk steaks, discounts for fights,
00:35all this stuff.
00:36And I got asked, too, about your steak preferences. What's your favorite cut?
00:40Well, I know in the Fight Night Feast that Bud Light is giving away, you've got the Tomahawk steaks, which
00:45is always a great steak.
00:46My choice is a beautiful filet mignon, cooked medium, thick, perfect, nothing.
00:53And now, it's playtime!
01:00And what do you like to kind of have? What's a good side with your steaks here?
01:04Baked potato. Can't go wrong with steak and baked potato. Grew up with that as a kid.
01:08Put on the bacon, put on the cream cheese, put on the chives, all that stuff.
01:13And then, I like either just a really good asparagus or cream corn and cream sped.
01:19Okay, that's a good one. So, obviously, again, you're in town for the fights as well here.
01:23Yes, I am.
01:23It is 10 years removed from the first Madison Square Garden card, that epic card.
01:28Conor McGregor had his just the most amazing night.
01:30Amazing.
01:30In front of all those Irish fans. I mean, where does that rank?
01:33The kind of the eruption that was in that building. I was in that one for it as well.
01:37Where does that rank among all the environments you've been in?
01:39Well, you know, every city has its own flavor. And that event itself was a pinnacle event for the UFC.
01:45Just like when you think back to when we had the final at the Ultimate Fighter, when Boris Griffin brought
01:49Stephen Bonner.
01:50And it just took off on Spike TV. And, you know, Spike TV made us, and we made Spike TV
01:55at that point.
01:55But when you come out at the greatest arena in the world, the mecca of all arenas, and I've announced
02:00events all over the world,
02:02there is nothing like coming out in Madison Square Garden. The history that's there, from Muhammad Ali on to you
02:07name it, is just incredible.
02:09And you feel it. You feel the energy of all the past greats that have walked through that arena.
02:14Just even entering it. That's what happens to me. It overtakes me.
02:17And then when I come out and I feel the energy of the sold-out crowd, because I never rehearse,
02:21I just want to do it organically.
02:24It's time.
02:25It is time. And this weekend, it's time, too.
02:28We've got heavyweights on the card. Cyril gone, defending his heavyweight championship for the first time, against Joshua Hokut.
02:34I gotta ask you, because they have two different ways of promoting their fights, right?
02:37Cyril is a little more respectful, and Hokut's a little bit of the opposite, right?
02:42As a martial artist yourself, too, where do you kind of go?
02:45Which is your preference for, like, the way a fight gets promoted?
02:48Not taking anything away from Hokut, because he's one hell of a fighter.
02:51And he deserves to have the chance to be the challenger on Saturday night.
02:55Right. I'm on the level of Cyril gone, you know, and when I, I treat it with more of a
03:02role model, kind of classy type aspect.
03:05But you've got these two different types that attract all the different people watching, and that's why everybody's going to
03:10tune in.
03:11So the fans are going to be going crazy for Harvey tomorrow night. Fans will be going crazy for gone.
03:15Of course, we're in New York. We're in the United States.
03:17So you're going to hear a lot of Hokut fans tomorrow.
03:20And they're also going to turn in for that amazing women's fight.
03:23Yes.
03:23What Dana White is calling the greatest women's fight of all time.
03:26You've got Kayla Harrison defending the Bantamweight title against the returning Hall of Famer, Amanda Nunes.
03:31I got asked, too, because you, again, you've seen all these fights.
03:34There are some other candidates for that, kind of that greatest women's fight of all time.
03:38Some of you most hyped ones. Amanda Nunes being one of them against Chris Seinborg.
03:43Where do you sit? I mean, is this it? Is this another one? Or is it hard to kind of
03:47choose?
03:47Again, you get back to the fact that every time you see the greatest fight, like, for instance, you had
03:51Holly Holm.
03:53Once you fought Ronda Rousey in Australia.
03:55Okay, that was considered going to be one of the best fights ever.
03:57Even though Holly was a 20-to-1 underdog.
03:59I mean, I knew in my heart, I don't bet fights, but I go, Ron's got to have a real
04:02problem this night.
04:03And that was the height of a ring.
04:05Then you have an Amanda Nunes fought Chris Seinborg, which was just an amazing big night.
04:10So now here we are. Kayla Harrison, Amanda Nunes, they used to train together, and they're fighting each other.
04:15You've got Kayla, who's the wrestler who can strike.
04:17You've got Amanda, who's the striker who can handle wrestlers.
04:20So may the best women win. It's going to be a five-round gopher.
04:24And to finally wrap it up, too, because another part of the reason why we're here, too,
04:28is you were in a new commercial called Chef, where you are serving the steaks.
04:31This is kind of the aura that we have here, right? The little bit of the feel there.
04:34What's it like for you when you've got to film a commercial and summon that energy that you're able to
04:39on fight night,
04:40but you're doing it without the crowd there?
04:42How do you kind of manage getting to that point that you need to be at?
04:45Well, you've got to remember, aside from announcing in front of 20,000, 50,000 people,
04:48when COVID hit, I'm announcing in front of, like, 50 people at the UFC Apex.
04:51And I've got to make it sound, I want to make it sound like there's 20,000 people in the
04:55audience.
04:55So you can put four people in a room, or you can put 40,000 in a room,
04:59but I'm going to give you every ounce of passion, every ounce of energy to take the fighters
05:03and the fans in attendance and the people watching on TV to the next level, because that's my job.
05:08So it doesn't matter. Put me in a phone booth, and I'll announce it.
05:10And he's going to bring that energy this weekend as well at UFC 334?
05:14I'm going to bring more than that. You better believe it.
05:16Check it out.
