Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Bruce Buffer - International Sports/Entertainment Host, UFC Octagon Announcer, Motivational Speaker
Episode Date: December 7, 2021Welcome to another episode of The Radcast! In this episode on The Radcast, host Ryan Alford talks with International Sports/Entertainment Host, UFC Octagon Announcer, Motivational Speaker, Bruce Buffe...r!Bruce talks about his experiences as the "Voice of the Octagon" and the meteoric rise of the UFC. He shares the defining moment when he said that “The UFC is now mainstream.” Ryan and Bruce also discuss the culture of the UFC, shocking moments that have come his way as an announcer and during a fight. Ryan and Bruce dissects about the business happening inside and outside of the octagon, the UFC's culture, ‘Millions’ e-commerce, his offers outside of the UFC, and more…Learn more about Bruce Buffer http://brucebuffer.com/. Follow his Instagram @brucebufferufc and Twitter @brucebuffer. You can also check Millions Ecommerce https://millions.co/ .If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com. Check out www.theradicalformula.com Like, Share and Subscribe on our YouTube account https://bit.ly/3iHGk44 or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radical_results @the.rad.cast If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE. Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding. Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford.
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I knew from the very first day I got involved, it was going to be the biggest thing in fighting
sports. The bottom line is, is that the younger demographic is dying off in boxing. Yes. The
Logan and Jake Paul fights are bringing him back in, but are they consistently going to watch other
boxers or are they just going to wait for their influencers? Here's the simple thing. Success
breeds competition and competition breeds success. You want other people to be successful,
but the UFC is the rocket ship.
The flames are coming and everybody's following their path. Right. And I'm very lucky again to
have a first class seat on that rocket ship. Don't forget where you came from and what got you there.
And now it's time for the Radcast with Ryan Alford.
Ryan Alford!
You're listening to the Radcast.
If it's radical, we cover it.
Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
Hey guys, what's up?
Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast.
It's radical today, folks.
I'm joined by the voice of the octagon, Bruce Buffer.
What's up, Bruce?
Hi, how are you? Everything good?
Everything's great, man. Appreciate you coming on.
No problem. I know you're a busy man, and there's no better catchphrase than, it's time.
I say it every day I wake up, man. it's time to have the best day that I can
it is it is uh man you got your hands in so much now which I want to get into um and and I love the
uh the t-shirt like where oh where did it's time come from let's just say I want to know where that
came from let's start there well you know when I started in the UFC announcing and I've been managing my brother, Michael Buffer, you know, the legendary greatest announcer of all time.
Let's get ready to rumble.
Yeah.
We met late in life.
And when we did, I owned two companies.
I had my first company when I was 19.
I've been an entrepreneur ever since.
I've owned a variety of companies, a couple of failures here and there, but most all successes, you know, I'm proud to say.
He owned a variety of companies, a couple failures here and there, but most all successes, I'm proud to say.
And when I met him, knowing that he was the announcer, he was and everything else,
eventually I sold two companies and became his manager, managing his career and everything.
I wanted to announce back then we agreed I wouldn't do boxing, and I said something would come along,
and boom, this is a very short version. And boom, the UFC came along, and I worked my way into the UFC.
But I never wanted to be Frank Sinatra Jr.
I never wanted to be, no respect to Frank Sinatra Jr., but I wanted to create my own style.
I wanted to grow with the UFC to help market the brand,
being the marketing and branding person they am first and foremost
before I do anything else.
And I told him, I said, I need to grow with you as the announcer.
But I didn't think I needed a catchphr said, I need to grow with you as the announcer, but I didn't
think I needed a catchphrase. I'm not catchphrase driven. I was more like, it's not what I say,
it's how I say it. So it wasn't until about seven years later that his time came about.
Everybody always was going, let's get ready. Let's do this. They all wanted to be Michael.
I just didn't want to come across like that. I told myself if within three years I could build
my own identity, my own style, I would continue. If not, I would quit because I just didn't want to come across like that. I told myself if in three years I could build my own identity, my own style,
I would continue.
If not, I would quit because I just didn't want to be that way.
So every day I wake up, and I was kidding before, but I'm serious,
I look in the mirror and go, it's time.
It's time to have the best day that I can possibly have.
So I used to open the show saying,
it's time to begin the ultimate fighting championship.
And then Dana White and the Fertittas bought the show.
Dana and I met.
He said, I don't want you doing that at the front anymore, top of the show.
And I said, fine.
But then I got down to the main event, and I realized, hey,
everybody's sitting here for five hours watching the show.
The main event's about to start.
The fighter's been training six to eight weeks
for the biggest moment in their lives.
This is definitely its time.
This is its time. This is when it's going to happen and i started incorporating
it in and gradually over time it developed to the style that i do it now whether i'm jumping or
doing whatever i never know physically what i'm going to do till i do it because i'd never rehearse
never i feel the energy of the crowd i just let it fly but when i was in brazil and 20 000
portuguese speaking people said it's time with me, I knew right then it hit.
And that's when I started building it up.
And then eventually over the last 15 plus years since then, you know, I've developed into products, you know, and many things happening worldwide.
And now it's time has taken on a very individual branding of itself.
And I plan on reaching a billion dollars in sales with
its time whether it's uh sales of other not in my pocket you know sales of other companies
everything as i achieved over a half half billions dollars in sales with let's get ready to rumble
but i love my brother but i'm a competitor and i'm going to come in first i I love it. I love it. Did you see, I mean, the UFC has had this meteoric rise in last
10 plus years, but like, did you see that coming? I knew from the very first day I got involved,
it was going to be the biggest thing in fighting sports. You know, when you're in business,
you need to be able to hopefully recognize the brand,
recognize the future. I always think three steps ahead in life, like chess. I'd apply that to every
aspect of business and any business I've owned or been involved in. Because to me, all business is
the same. It's just the product that's different. But you've got to recognize what has the chance
to be the big hit. I knew that was going to be with Let's Get Ready to Rumble. I got contacted
by another company called Party Poker back when poker was not even as popular as today who wanted me to be part of it one of the things i regret i
didn't grab that opportunity back then because i realized online poker was going to explode and i'm
a big part of poker myself in my private life but when the usc came on yes it was raw it was a
spectacle it needed refinement but i decided to stick with it make the short money back then that I made lose
money going on trips everything I could do realizing that if I stuck with this because
consistency is a key in business that I knew it would all pay off and I have a simple theory and
that's whenever I do business of any kind I have a three-foot theory everybody around me be happy
healthy and prosperous and you know my goal is to help everybody around me get there because then
it all comes back to me.
So unselfishly, I've been just dedicating my life to the UFC
for over 25 years as of February.
What's the, you know, it might be a cliche,
but what's the most memorable moment for you,
you know, like as an announcer?
It could be a fight.
I mean, there's been so many memorable fights now.
But what is your most memorable in-ring moment now
or out of the ring announcing or either?
25 years.
I have so many memorable moments.
There's no one that outstands.
I can just give you samples and examples of many.
Whether it's pulling off a 360 move
in front of Brock Lesnar or UFC 100
after being egged on by Joe Rogan in the internet
for six plus months
and realizing, you know, after
trying it in my room three times before I went down
to the arena and slipping on the carpet twice
that I might not pull it off. But when I
turned out of the corner of Frank Mir to go to
face Brock Lesnar, I realized if I didn't
pull the 360 and not just casual,
I'd jump up and spin around and do it,
that I would be the, as I termed, the bitch of the Internet on Monday.
The forums would have torn me apart.
So that was one.
But, you know, there's just so many.
You know, when Dana White and the Fertitta brothers took over the UFC
and, you know, we had this amazing dinner together and we all met.
And then you go back to the tough finale, the ultimate fighter with with Forrest Griffin,
Stefan Bonner, you know, one of the most amazing fights and amazing moments in UFC history
where at that point we continued on going upward like a rocket ship where I have a first
class seat and it's still going that way.
going upward like a rocket ship where I have a first class seat and it's still going that way.
But, um, that night we drew 15 share max or 12 share max on the final event. And you realize that point that we made spike and spike made us spike TV who were with back then. There's all
these memorable moments, but you know what? The moments to me that are most important is when I
get the relationships I have with the fighters and the fans and the respect factor between us.
Or to have a guy like Antonio Nogueira during one of his last fights in Brazil come back to me after his fight just bleeding and wounded and said,
you just must understand your introduction.
It took me to another level, you know?
And it's like, life's not about the paycheck.
I'll be the first one to cash that damn paycheck on a Monday at the bank. Trust me, I'm first in line. I'll be there. Okay.
But I'm not in it for the paycheck as much as I am in it for the paycheck. What you're talking
about is what life is all about these experiences. And I always tell people when I do my branding and
marketing, you know, motivational speeches or whatever. One key thing in business is find out
what you're passionate about. And if you can learn how to monetize it you're not really working you're living a lifestyle and that's and my i call my
life by design it's just like my new company millions.co where we're branding athletes and
everything this is my millions.co t-shirt it's buff life with capital b which means b it's real
simple b be who you are be the best you can be that's all you can do whether you're first second or third if you're the best you can be. That's all you can do. Whether you're first, second, or third,
if you're the best you can be, then you're winning.
And that's what I'm all about.
What's interesting, Bruce, is, you know,
whether you know it or not,
like I have watched you on USC and things like that,
but the emotion and like, you wear it on your sleeve.
Like I got to know you more,
obviously studying up for this podcast and all that,
but like, and I love Michael,, but I have always seen this emotion in the way you enter the ring and all that.
And I'm like, there's something deeper here with you with this.
And I think you just distilled it really well.
And I think it shines in a lot of what you do.
And I want to give you kudos for that.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
You know, a writer once said that Michael's like a fine bottle of Bordeaux, right? But I'm like a fine
bottle of puncher's chance. Okay. I get out there and again, it's you, you hit it on the head. Um,
I'm, I attack it with passion. I get back to passion. It's one of my key words,
whether it's my feelings for my family, a girlfriend or life in business. Okay. I approach
everything with passion that way in business. If I get knocked down, I get, I stand up and like
Rocky said, I move forward and punch harder than ever because you believe in yourself.
The moment I can't announce the way I want to announce, if I have to start phoning it in,
I'm going to retire. I'm done. Okay. Every night I walk out there, it's time to be the best I can be.
I was out last Saturday night.
I'm going in the octagon again, Saturday night.
I've been doing this for over 25 years.
I have to prove to myself come Saturday night that I deserve this job.
And it's that kind of hunger and that kind of passion that I've kept doing what I'm doing.
I'm 64 now and I won't stop.
I stay in shape.
I do everything I can because I train and I get ready for these shows like a fighter. The moment I can't enjoy that progression, that evolutionary
process, like I said, I'm done. It's time for me to find another, get up from the table and find
another poker game, go put my chips somewhere else. Well, it shows, but how would you define
the culture of the UFC? I, you know, I mean, it's raw, but like,
what are the words or the descriptions that come to mind
when you talk about the UFC?
You know, there is a UFC lifestyle,
and fans live a UFC lifestyle,
whether they're wearing the merch and all that,
but I've got to look at the fans to answer that question
because the reason we are where we are is because of the fans.
Aside from all the work and the great mastery of Maverick marketing
and management that Dana White and his team do.
But the fans have kept us alive, and it's just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.
And aside from the younger demographic of the 18 to 34,
we have the widest demographic, I think, of most sports,
whether it's female or male.
You know,
I can just
say again, it's like a lifestyle for these
people. They have their first
show. They want to see the next one. They want to
see the progression. Granted, there's a lot more shows
now. It's hard to keep track of all the fighters, but
they're so interested in what they have for breakfast,
what they do in their private lives. Once you can lock people in like that then you've got a
successful audience it's going to be a dedicated audience they'll be consistently watching you
forever not just as happens in boxing now which i love and i grew up in and i participated in
the bottom line is is that the younger demographic is dying off on boxing yes the logan and jake paul
fights are bringing them back in,
but are they consistently going to watch other boxers
or are they just going to wait for their influencers?
But at least young eyeballs are coming into the sport.
The UFC is just capturing and holding people.
Definitely.
Let's face it, in COVID, we were the first sport to come back.
Yes, you were.
And it's really blown up as a result.
Yeah.
I mean, I want to transition to some of the businesses and, and it's time and all of those things, but before we
go there, like kind of close, not closing the book, but what's it like working with Dana?
It's great. You know, I mean, Dana and I knew each other before he took over the UFC,
called me when he bought it. He was managing Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz back then.
And the previous owner called me up, Robert Myers,
said, I have good news and bad news.
The bad news, I sold the UFC.
The good news, I sold it to Dana White and the Fertitta brothers.
And they want to keep you and John McCarthy.
Everybody else is going.
I'm like, great.
So Dana, we get along really well.
We're friends.
We're brothers in arms.
He's a maverick.
He's nonstop.
You've got to really appreciate a man who's worth probably a half billion or more dollars
and still has the passion to do everything he needs to do to keep this going
because he could easily back off and live in one of his many homes and do whatever he wants.
It's a rare breed.
There's very few mavericks in life.
I consider myself a maverick in business,
but you've got to look at Dana,
and you look at the Vince McMahons,
and you look at whether you agree with him or not,
the Don Kings of this world.
It takes people like this to keep these kind of things alive,
and it's perfect.
It all works well.
And Dana's very generous,
and very loyal. But if you're on his bad side, what works well. And Dana's very generous. Yeah.
But you don't,
and very loyal.
But if you're on his,
his bad side,
you're screwed.
Okay.
Yeah.
Like you don't want that,
that, that switch flipping.
No,
no.
Well,
that's never going to happen between us.
Not between you,
but we'd probably throw a few punches at each other and have a beer afterwards.
What's the,
what's the business of
mma like now like both for you and in general i mean i guess i mean both inside and outside of
the ring you know like we discussed like ufc and mma you know announcing for you um and being the
voice of the octagon is so small to what you're doing now. It's just such a mega business, right?
Yeah, you're talking about my business?
Yeah, both that and just the businesses.
The business of mixed martial arts now.
I think people see the fighting and they see it
and they get the pay-per-view and all that,
but it's a big business.
A big business, a billion-dollar business.
I mean, you're talking about a company in UFC
that sold for $4.2 billion,
the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise
in the United States.
If that doesn't speak volumes, I don't know what does.
And then you got to look at it from a standpoint,
for me personally, the octagon is my base.
When I teach people about branding and business,
you always have to have a base to work from.
Forget about selling something 150 miles away from your base. Sell within a mile of your base. If everybody's
your customer, you're a multimillionaire. You have to assume that attitude. So the Octagon's my base.
It's established over 25 years. All the other business ventures I have, I'm building out of
the base. I did the same thing managing my brother's career. HBO, Rox and Ring was his base.
We built the movies,
the TV, the products, everything, which is what I'm doing too. Neither one of us ever crossing
over against each other unless we work with each other. But the rules of business are very simple.
So when you have a King Kong gorilla like the UFC as your base, unless you're doing something wrong
or you don't know what your brand is all about, there's no reason but to move forward and keep branding and building yourself.
And that's one of the reasons I started the company Millions.co because I'm trying to teach athletes in all sports how to brand themselves.
You don't have to have a million, two million followers to be the top athlete in your sport to be able to brand yourself and monetize yourself even when you're starting out.
But people don't realize that.
This is one of the ways, even though I'll make whatever I make out of this and all that,
that's all great. I'm really doing this as a pay it forward thing to help athletes.
I see too many athletes losing opportunities to make money and expand their careers because they
don't have proper management or they don't know what to do themselves. And that's why I started
millions.com. Sorry if I segued there for a second. No, I love it. I want to build on that, but I think you nailed it. And, you know,
owning an agency, working with brands, the hardest thing to do is to create attention.
And you, like you said, you have this base with all this built-in attention and all these fighters
have all this built-in attention and leveraging that appropriately into all the other channels
is where the opportunity
is at. And, you know, so few people, I don't know why that's hard to grasp, but that's that
brands and businesses spend millions and millions of dollars to create attention.
And the UFC gives you a platform to do that. So then you leverage off of that.
Well, leverage works in different ways, you know, and what you're saying too, is like,
you ever watch, of course you have, you watch the Super Bowl, right?
Now, I've had a Super Bowl commercial.
I was in a Budweiser commercial, okay?
Bucket list fulfilled.
How many times do you watch a commercial on the Super Bowl where people have spent millions of dollars and it's over and you're like, what was that all about?
That's called ego advertising.
I can't believe on the highest levels that this still happens.
ego advertising all right people i i can't believe on the highest levels that this still happens so yeah no when you've got the usc behind you when i appear for the las vegas raiders which
is the new thing i started this year okay it's not about the ufc it's about me appearing for
the raiders but in respect to the ufc they have to realize that i just gave them a million dollar
commercial because i've been told i'm one of the three faces of the UFC with Dana and Joe Rogan,
let's say, right? Aside from all the amazing fighters we have who come and go as champions
do. But we're constant. We're consistent. So I'll laugh and giggle with Dana and say,
hey, I just gave you a million dollar commercial. Time to renegotiate.
It's true.
You got to use the powers that you have. Don't be cocky. Just be real and go for it.
Have you had offers outside of the UFC?
Oh, God, yeah.
I've had people throw buckets of money at me.
But you're loyal.
Loyal.
Honestly, you don't leave the NFL to join the CFL.
All respect to the CFL.
Right?
Bellator's down there.
All respect to Scott Coker.
Scott's a great guy.
I've worked with Scott. I did K1 fights for him. But, you know, they're like catching fighters
dropping out of the octagon, falling into the Bellator ring. With all respect to Bellator,
it does a fine job. Here's the simple thing. Success breeds competition and competition
breeds success. You want other people to be successful. But the UFC is the rocket ship.
The flames are coming and everybody's following their path.
And I'm very lucky again to have a first-class seat on that rocket ship.
Don't forget where you came from and what got you there.
I've seen many people get cocky and make that mistake and leave, and they're done.
Their relevancy is gone in six months.
Let's talk about some of the products coming out.
I know you've only got a few more minutes
um you go ahead i got i got i got 10 more minutes sweet um let's talk about uh it's time the brand
the the components that are coming out we've talked about million some um i'm excited as an
energy drink guy uh you know i was watching your podcast last week and i'm like when's it coming
to the u.s.? Talk about that deal.
Well, I spent almost two years on this.
It's the It's Time energy drink.
Yes.
Never thought I'd have my face on a can.
So what this is is basically I don't drink energy drinks.
I might have to sip one once in a while, and I'm just exhausted at a show or something
before the main event or whatever, but I'm so full of energy. It's not an issue.
But one of the reasons I don't drink energy drinks is because they're crap.
No offense. Yeah. Monster, Red Bull, big few successes, right? But they're full of taurine.
They're full of the stuff that's so bad for you. And people are swallowing this down along with
five hour energy shots like it's candy. Like it's I mean, when you when I see advertising,
we're five hour any shot. I'll respect when I see advertising where five-hour energy shot,
all respect to you guys, please don't get upset with me,
but you're telling people to have it for breakfast?
Are you kidding me, right?
If I'm going to drink an energy drink, I want it to be full of vitamins and minerals.
So we made this with athletes in mind.
It's purely natural.
Yes, there's 200 milligrams of caffeine from a natural source of caffeine in this.
We've got wolfberry extract,
amino acids, vitamins, minerals. This is a nutritional drink with no crash, right? It'll
perk you up with no crash. We're actually dealing with USADA. Jeff Nvesky put me in contact with
another company that's going to go after our barrels and batches and give a stamp of approval
where this can be drunk, right? So I, energy drinks is a
huge seller. People are looking for them all over, but if I'm going to be in this business,
I'm going to have the best product out there. And that's exactly what we created. So I just
launched it in the UK on a private launch, excuse me, a soft launch. My company's from the UK that's
making it and we're distributing out all over the world. We're going to have four distribution
centers alone in the United States because the demand
is going to be that big and it's going to be everywhere.
So the response has been tremendous.
We've got five different flavors coming out.
But it's also going to eventually go into a line of another 50 products.
I'm going to have pre-workout and post-workout and nutritional products and everything.
But slow organic development is the way I build business.
And this is going to be the first one out of the gate,
followed by other products I'll load the pipeline with.
And I'm very excited because the response has been tremendous
and the critiques have been tremendous, positive.
That's great. I can't wait to get my hands on it.
So November will be in the U.S.
Where will we be able to find it?
We're going to launch it first on Amazon.
Okay.
And so then the retail stores will be coming afterwards.
What I would say is follow me on Instagram at BruceBufferUFC.
I make all my announcements there.
Sweet.
I love that.
You've got time for a quick one-word rad or fad.
I give you a keyword, and you tell me rad or fad.
Just keep going. I could take another five or ten, whatever. looking at what i my gadget got a note my kristin is yeah coaxing
me she goes you're cool you're cool you're cool nice um so it's times coming out like we're gonna
have pre-workouts we're gonna have all that stuff um is are you gonna have obviously you're the face
of it with uh your trademark um any other
influencers or people are gonna be involved that we might know from ufc or otherwise or is this a
sole venture with just you know like behind the scenes business partners no there'll be there'll
be other people involved i just can't name who they are yet i don't talk about anything unless
the deal is signed on the dotted line but i i've got believe i have access to some of the most
amazing influencers from logan pa Paul to you name it,
who are my buddy and stuff like that.
If there's a business deal where money changes hands
and things are proper, but there's one rule I have.
If they don't like the product,
they don't get the money, period.
I like it. I like it.
What do you, I mean,
what is the Bruce Buffer personal brand?
You know, you talked about social media.
You've obviously embraced that
with all the channels and platforms. Like, is there a strategy or something as far as how you go at it with like
continuing that you obviously have the base platform of attention and you're you're knowing
there. But like, how do you approach social media from a marketing perspective? You know, I try I
put it out on social media, but I don't want to be like every post that I'm showing for something I'm showing because I mix it up.
You know, I give examples of my personal life and things that I do and obviously UFC, but it's a timely factor.
I'm going to put things out that are pertinent and make a point, but I don't want to over, I've learned a long time ago, marketing five words of air.
Let's get ready to rumble, which could have easily become, where's the beef's the beef show me the money you know had a sandy warhol 15 minutes and died out
saturation avoiding saturation is key knowing how to do it so people don't get sick of hearing it
and that's why i come out with a variety of different products because it's time
is uh such a strong somewhat generic statement that i own you know in respect to where I own in
trademark wise that I don't want to abuse it I want to build it so it's careful marketing
careful consistent marketing what that answers your question it does it does what do you think
is people get to know you and see that what do you think like the most surprising aspect maybe it is like, you know, you're, you're intense in the ring and then I'm sensing this, I don't know, this real empathy and
real caring notion that's, it's been both refreshing and surprising. I mean, is that,
is that thing, is that something that a lot of people may not know or understand about you?
I appreciate your kind words. You know, I, I think because I walk out in the tuxedo
and I've got the, you know, the jewelry and all that stuff,
you know, my show, walk in the phone booth
and go out to the octagon, you know,
out of the phone booth dressed as the octagon announcer.
But that's still me.
That's me.
You know, I walk with a swagger, you know.
You know, a lot of people do.
And I might be misinterpreted as being, you know,
because I represent, I'm so strong in my beliefs.
Maybe not cocky, but just a little overconfident or whatever.
But I'm really humble, you know.
I treat everybody around me with respect.
I treat people the way I want to be treated.
I believe we're all created equal, you know.
And I just like to be that way with everybody, you know.
It's real simple.
I don't like cocky people.
I don't like arrogant people. and I don't like assholes.
And you put 10 men in a room, you're going to get three of them that are going to fit that mold, so I'll deal with the other seven.
It's real simple.
And I don't like liars.
I'm very honest in everything.
I could sell an air conditioner to an Eskimo, but I'm not going to lie about it.
I mean, how vested do you get?
about it i mean how vested do you get like it always i don't know separating because there's such intensity with the fighting and you're in the ring and you're calling it and you get so
intense with the fighters but like is it hard to separate i mean do you you go into it with
favorites and things like that or do you just are you turning all that off to be you i don't yeah
it's a it's a good question um i'm an equal opportunity announcer. I don't bet
the fights. I don't go in like, oh, geez, I got five grand on BJ Penn. I think I better give him
a big boost here. No, it's not like that. These warriors, male and female, deserve every ounce
of energy I can give them. It's my job to enhance the moment for them and enhance the moment for the fans. The show is not about me. It's about them. I know what it's like to bang. I fought a lot of
my life. Okay. I was never a pro. I fought on the beach. I fought in the ring. I fought in the match,
you name it. I fought in back alleys. Okay. The bottom line is I understand the mentality of a
fighter. I've been around fighters longer than the UFC has been in existence because I've been
around boxing and my own past history in fighting. So I understand the fighter mentality, that intensity,
that passion I'm throwing forward is because I'm introducing the fighters the way I would want to
be introduced if I was fighting, because I want you to get me ready to go. These guys are like,
and women are like Kentucky Derby horses in the cage or in that gate before that gate opens.
And my job is to get them frothing at the mouth and blowing snot like crazy.
So when that door opens, they just go for it. It's real simple.
I love it. I love it. I just, I don't know. I, I, I still go back to that.
Like you, but you watch every fight, right?
Especially the main events you're seeing your ringside watching every moment.
And it's like, yeah, I get inside. Sorry. Octagon side. The octagon side, sorry.
Getting my rings, my octagons.
They called me the ring announcer for about six years in a meeting.
I kept telling everybody until Dan took over.
Guys, will you get this straight?
I'm the octagon announcer.
This is not a ring.
I'm trying to teach my five-year-old what an octagon is right now.
i'm trying to teach my five-year-old what an octagon is right now but uh no but your your octagon side and you're watching this like i don't know i think of like
these these shocking moments and i'm thinking like well you know and i've i've never been to
you i've been to boxing matches i have never been blessed the i've been a ton of octagon in south
carolina but uh the uh there's we have fighters. We have, uh, the wonder boy, uh, is from,
from right here in the upstate of South Carolina.
Steven's a good man. Yeah. Um, so he's been great to follow, but, um,
I think of the shocking moments, you know,
like when Ronda Rousey lost the first time or like not the first time,
I guess it was the first time, but like, are those as shocking for you, as they are for us? Or again, is it, are you still like in the first time. I guess it was the first time. But like are those as shocking for you as they are for us?
Or again, are you still like in the zone?
No, I'm a fan first and an announcer second.
You know, I mean, there's plenty of shots of me
like when Connor knocked out Jose Aldo in 21 seconds or whatever it was.
And everybody focused and it made social media all over
because my face was like, you know, like that.
And suddenly it's like, you know,
you always got to remember there's a camera on you somewhere, but you know what? I go in and do my
job, but I have a right to enjoy those fights like anybody else, you know? Yeah, I know. Where's it
all going for you, Bruce? I mean, you know, sounds like it's times about to rise like a meteor, but
you know, what, where, where does the future hold for Bruce?
I have bucket lists yet to be fulfilled.
You know, I've got a number of TV commercials.
I've got a motion picture project in the works right now that I can't talk about, not necessarily starring and producing.
You know, I'm always working on something.
And what I'm trying to do is mainly it's real simple.
I want to keep my business plan on the passionate mode that it is with everything fitting perfectly.
And I just want to make sure that everything I build is enough to take care of my family for the rest of their lives and their kids.
And I've got two godson and nephew.
I'm not married.
I've never been married.
I've almost been divorced twice. But my ex-girlfriend from 27 years ago is my partner, Kristen.
And she dealt with your company.
And she's absolutely amazing.
We are a two-person army here doing more business than most small to mid-sized corporations.
But I'm godfather to her kids.
I want to make sure nobody that I love and know has anything to worry about.
And when I go, I just want to make sure everybody's taken care of and that I leave
this legacy and a number of businesses that still could be running. And just everybody thinks that,
Hey, I was a good guy and I did the best I could to make everybody happy, including myself. I'm
again, I'm real simple. I'm real simple, but I'm like a great white shark swimming. You know,
I love what I do. I'll never stop. I'll be in the octagon for another 10 years until physically I
can't do what i do you know
yep i love it man do we is it too much to ask for it's time for the radcast or is that like
too cliche and like we don't do that it's not too cliche i just paid a shitload of money for it but
you know what i'll do it for you all right what is it again the radcast it's time for the radcast
or orion or whatever.
I don't care.
I just want to go tell my friends that I talked to Bruce Brever,
and he did It's Time for us.
I'll be happy.
And now it's time for the Radcast with Ryan Alford.
Oh, my God.
I think I have chills, Mike.
I'm like, oh, my God.
Is my mic falling over?
I still get them, too.
This is the other thing.
Ryan, when my hair stops rising up when I do my thing,
then maybe I shouldn't do my thing anymore.
Dude, I'm telling you.
Bruce, I can't be more thankful for your graciousness with the time.
Was a fan before, huge fan now.
I think everyone listening is, is going to be more. And I
think we're all going to be clamoring for an energy drink come November. Well, when you do that,
try to mix it with the finest Kentucky bourbon in the market. If I can just give one prod,
so proud of this Ryan. Yes. Puncher's chance is my bour bourbon I came out with the end of last year. It's all
about how one punch can change your life. It's everything I'm all about, but it is the sweet
nectar of the bourbon gods. We've won six gold medal awards. Wow. Three for the best tasting
bourbon, three for the best bottle design. And as a craft distributor, we're the fastest selling
highest rate of bourbon in America today. So this can be, this is awesome.
You can go to wolfdistilleryspirits.com.
You can buy it online or we're in stores, not in every state now,
but all across the country.
And it's just one of my favorite things to do.
And the last thing is at my website, brucebuffer.com,
or of course I'm on Cameo.
But the whole business of championship introductions,
birthdays, birth of babies, business
videos, whatever, has grown
during COVID like there's no tomorrow.
And Chris
and I get a lot of pleasure out of doing the weddings
and the champ intros, the thank you notes we get from
people. It just
brings tears to our eyes. We're making so many people happy.
And I give partial proceeds to animal
military and children charities because you've got to pay things forward. You've got to
pay things forward. I love that. You beat me to it. You are the world's best marketer because
like that's usually the last thing I say, thank you. And then I go, where can we keep up with
everything? And Bruce, you're ahead of me, man. You are the world's greatest marketer.
I don't know about the greatest, but I'll put myself up there i know i love only
because of proof it's one thing to talk about things and talk about them but it's about did
you do it that's the key all right everybody show me the proof yeah everybody get out there
check out puncher's chance with a puncher's chance there it is puncher's chance go to
brucebuffer.com follow Follow everything that Bruce is up to.
Hell of a guy and a legend in the octagon.
Thank you so much, Ryan.
I appreciate it very much.
Thank you so much.
I'm Ryan Alford, the host of the Radcast.
You know where to find us.
We're at theradcast.com.
Search for Bruce Buffer.
Search for Puncher's Chance.
All the highlights from today's episode will be there loaded live.
And keep up with everything with Ryan Offord.
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We'll see you next time on the Radcast.