Laura Sanko is keeping busy now that she’s been added to the UFC broadcast team.
Sanko makes her UFC Vegas 68 debut and is the first female to call fights during the current era.
Sanko will be serving as color commentaryator Saturday along with retired UFC lightweight competitor Paul Felder. Brendan Fitzgerald will handle the play-byplay. Heidi Androl will handle reporting duties from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
ESPN confirmed Thursday that the broadcasting assignments had been assigned.
There had been calls for years to add Sanko to the broadcast team, and it’s a responsibility she takes very seriously after Kathy Long was the only other woman to ever call UFC fights way back at the broadcast debut for the organization in 1994.
“I feel the responsibility of the new, more elevated role, and I think commentary in general is a big responsibility,” Sanko told MMA Fighting. Because at the end, the goal is to bring the fight art that the athlete has put their soul and effort into to an audience who can’t touch or see it. You’re also the conduit that connects that art to the people at home. This sounds high-handed, but I consider it a huge responsibility and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to do this for UFC .
The three-person card will be headlined by the flyweight bout between Jessica Andrade, ex-UFC champion, and Erin Blanchfield.
After Taila Santos’s forced withdrawal, Taila and her trainer couldn’t secure visas for the United States, Andrade agreed to the fight with just one week notice.
The main event could have title implications on the line if Blanchfield can get past Andrade and build on her undefeated record in the UFC.
UFC Vegas 69 will host five main cards. The first fight starts at 7 at 5:00 p.m. ET while prelims begin at 4. ET, with the entire event airing on ESPN+.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/2/16/23603165/laura-sanko-returns-to-the-broadcast-booth-to-call-ufc-vegas-69?rand=96749
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