Kemo
01-04-2018, 09:23 PM
Former Bellator chief color commentator Jimmy Smith surprisingly parted ways with the promotion last week, discussing his departure as recent guest on the Joe Rogan Experience
Smith insists that him leaving his role was a mutual agreement and that there was no ‘acrimony’ involved in him leaving the position he occupied for nine years:
“It’s not a Bellator thing,” Smith said (transcript via MMAFighting). “They were great to work with. They were great about the whole break up thing. What happened was, I had a deal with an option year and 2018 was my option year and when I was in Verona, New York doing the Verona show, my boss sat me down and said, ‘We’re not gonna renew 2018, we want a different deal.’
“When they come to you and say they want a different deal, it’s never – when you’re girlfriend comes to you and says she wants to talk it’s never, ‘I don’t give enough bl**jobs.’ They never say that. It’s always bad. It’s always bad.
“So that was it. When they were like, ‘We want to change the deal around,’ I was like, ‘Okay,’ and they did make an honest effort to keep me. They really tried, but they just didn’t make an offer that was worth me coming back. That was pretty much the deal so it’s kind of comparatively amicable.”
Rogan admitted that he was a big fan of Smith’s work and had lobbied for him to UFC President Dana White to get him over to the UFC:
“I called Dana White about you, how many years ago, like four?” said Rogan. “I tried to get Jimmy Smith hired by the UFC four years ago. I was like, ‘Dude, you want better people, you want more people? Hire that f*cking guy. He knows what he’s doing, he’s excited, and he loves the sport. I was telling him you’re a great guy, he’s genuine, he’s a real fan and he’s f*cking good at it. Go get him.’”
Smith insists that him leaving his role was a mutual agreement and that there was no ‘acrimony’ involved in him leaving the position he occupied for nine years:
“It’s not a Bellator thing,” Smith said (transcript via MMAFighting). “They were great to work with. They were great about the whole break up thing. What happened was, I had a deal with an option year and 2018 was my option year and when I was in Verona, New York doing the Verona show, my boss sat me down and said, ‘We’re not gonna renew 2018, we want a different deal.’
“When they come to you and say they want a different deal, it’s never – when you’re girlfriend comes to you and says she wants to talk it’s never, ‘I don’t give enough bl**jobs.’ They never say that. It’s always bad. It’s always bad.
“So that was it. When they were like, ‘We want to change the deal around,’ I was like, ‘Okay,’ and they did make an honest effort to keep me. They really tried, but they just didn’t make an offer that was worth me coming back. That was pretty much the deal so it’s kind of comparatively amicable.”
Rogan admitted that he was a big fan of Smith’s work and had lobbied for him to UFC President Dana White to get him over to the UFC:
“I called Dana White about you, how many years ago, like four?” said Rogan. “I tried to get Jimmy Smith hired by the UFC four years ago. I was like, ‘Dude, you want better people, you want more people? Hire that f*cking guy. He knows what he’s doing, he’s excited, and he loves the sport. I was telling him you’re a great guy, he’s genuine, he’s a real fan and he’s f*cking good at it. Go get him.’”