During the UFC Vegas 91 event, cage announcer Joe Martinez was temporarily replaced by reporter Charly Arnolt, causing confusion and concern among fans and professionals.
UFC Vegas 91 was a rollercoaster, and not just for the fighters. Joe Martinez, the cage announcer, was there one minute, gone the next, and then back again.
Saturday’s event at the UFC APEX saw Martinez handling most of the cage announcing. That is, until the decision for Karine Silva‘s win over Ariane da Silva had to be announced.
Enter Charly Arnolt. The roving reporter took over the mic to announce Silva’s victory. And she didn’t stop there. Arnolt also did the intros and win announcement for Bogdan Guskov‘s knockout win over Ryan Spann.
But wait, there’s more. When it was time for headliners Matheus Nicolau and Alex Perez to enter the octagon, guess who was back? Yep, Martinez. He was there to ask the fans if they were ready for the flyweight main event.
The MMA pros were just as confused as we were. They took to Twitter to express their reactions to the multiple changes throughout the main card.
Megan Anderson tweeted, “What happened to Joe Martinez? Don’t get me wrong, love Charly doing the intros/result.. just hope Joe is okay! #UFCVegas91”.
“Filthy” Tom Lawlor also chimed in, “What could have possibly happened to ring announcer Joe Martinez DURING the UFC show that Charly Arnolt has now had to commandeer the ring announcements? up for Joe”.
Alan Jouban simply tweeted, “Was wondering what happened”.
As for Charly Arnolt? She seemed thrilled with the unexpected turn of events, tweeting, “YA’LL. I AM SHAKING!! What an experience that was!!”.
So, what’s the takeaway here? Expect the unexpected when it comes to UFC Vegas 91.