Saturday's UFC 155 from Las Vegas, featuring a clash in the main event between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title, will be missing a familiar face. Long-time UFC play by play announcer Mike Goldberg will miss the event according to MMA Junkie, and be replaced by Jon Anik, who joined the UFC in 2011 and will be making his PPV debut for the company after mainly handling shows on Fuel and FX.

UFC president Dana White says that Goldberg is taking some time off, won't be working the show this weekend, and he doesn't know when Goldberg will be back. That last piece is noteworthy as it provides no timetable on when or even if Goldberg will return to the booth. White gave no details about why Goldberg was taking time off, and the veteran announcer hasn't tweeted anything about missing the event.

The timing of Goldberg's absence is strange. UFC 155 is the last event Goldberg would need to work until January 26th's UFC on Fox 6 event due to the team of Anik and Kenny Florian broadcasting all main cards that take place on Fuel and FX. It's not fair to speculate what's going on with absolutely no insight into things, but Goldberg did work the finale of the Ultimate Fighter on FX two weeks ago and nothing seemed amiss.

For all of the flack that Goldberg gets for his overused catchphrases, he's a solid enough commentator, and his chemistry with color commentator Joe Rogan is off the charts. Hopefully, this is just a blip on the radar, and the Goldberg/Rogan duo is back in full-force next month on Fox.

[MMA Junkie]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

Comments are closed.