Charly Arnolt made a small piece of history at UFC Vegas 91.
The ESPN host, who formerly worked for the WWE, has become a permanent fixture since making her debut as a UFC reporter in 2022.
Arnolt was supposed to be conducting interviews backstage with some of the fighters on the card, but she ended up doing much more on Saturday night.
Bruce Buffer is the legendary voice of the Octagon and is usually the man tasked with announcing the fighters and results at Dana White’s MMA events.
However, he had a well-deserved night off and Joe Martinez was tasked with being the announcer for a card topped by flyweight fighters Matheus Nicolau and Alex Perez.
Martinez is no stranger to working for MMA’s premier promotion and is known to be a decent deputy when Buffer is unable to make an event – but something went wrong at UFC Vegas 91.
The 49-year-old had expertly handled the show up until the fight before the co-main event, which saw Karine Silva defeat Ariane Lipski by unanimous decision.
Martinez introduced both fighters at the start of their bout but when it was time to announce a winner he was nowhere to be seen, so Arnolt stepped in.
In doing so, she became the first female announcer in UFC history.
Arnolt went on to do the introductions and win announcement for Bogdan Guskov’s knockout victory over Ryan Spann before she bowed out ahead of the main event.
Martinez, who was feeling under the weather, returned to the Octagon to announce Nicolau and Perez and confirm Perez the winner by second-round knockout.
Some praised Martinez for battling through an illness, but most of the post-fight talk was about Arnolt making history during her latest shift with the UFC.
She tweeted: “YA’LL. I AM SHAKING!! What an experience that was!!”
Arnolt subsequently shared a video to her Instagram story where she claimed to have contemplated turning down the chance to make history.
“I almost said no to doing the announcements,” she admitted. “I almost said no, and now I’ve made history, that is so f**king cool!”
With Buffer returning and Martinez hopefully on the mend, it’s unlikely Arnolt will get the call to do any more UFC announcements.
Although, she may have done enough to convince the powers at be that she can be the company’s third-string announcer as well as a backstage reporter.
News Summary:
- Charly Arnolt left ‘shaking’ as Bruce Buffer’s replacement goes missing and she makes UFC history
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