The brothers Michael and Bruce Buffer: the voices of boxing and the UFC

BACALLADO JUAN MANUEL January 24, 2019

249 3 minutes read

Listen this article

The main combat events remain in the family, after these two characters discovered – as adults – that both were children of the same father

The brothers Michael and Bruce Buffer: the voices of boxing and the UFC

Presentations in many sports may seem somewhat insignificant and routine. However, when it comes to Boxing and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the performance is paramount, and all these thanks to the voices of Michael Buffer -in boxing- and Bruce Buffer -in UFC- who are also essential teachers of a ceremony, are stepbrothers, with a curious story behind.

Leer en español: Michael y Bruce Buffer: las voces del boxeo y la UFC

According to the web portal Sher Dog, the parents of Michael Buffer divorced when shortly before he turned 2, but because the economic condition was given up for adoption.

After 13 years, his father had a son, whom he would call Bruce. It would take 27 years for Michael and Bruce to find out that they were stepbrothers, after Bruce -famous boxer- mentioned to his father the physical resemblance he had with the presenter Michael Buffer, who also had the same last name.

From that moment, Bruce learned the story of Michael by his father's voice. This caused Bruce to go to Las Vegas and meet Michael to explain his family bond. They both joined together to found the company "The Buffer Partnership" and to strengthen relations, what would come next would be history.

Michael Buffer

Since 1982 Michael has become the official voice of the ring, featuring boxing stars such as Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and many more, according to the BBC newspaper.

Before Michael Buffer, there were other advertisers; however, Buffer assures that they reduced energy to the fight environment since they only mentioned sponsors, judges, doctors, the local fighter and there they finished, but he wanted to generate more excitement before every fight

According to the Vice website, dedication to this profession would come after his son assured him that he could make better presentations since one of the advertisers did not do well when communicating a split decision. For what Michael, after being a volunteer of the United States Army, car salesman, model, and commercial image, decided to choose to be a boxing presenter, and it would not be until 1980 when, with Donald Trump, Michael would announce the main boxing fights.

Currently, Michael Buffer is 74 years old, of which 39 have been for boxing, which according to Celebrity Net Worth, gets between 25 and 100 thousand dollars for each night of boxing. Besides, it has generated a heritage of 400 million dollars after patenting its favorite phrase "Let's get ready to rumble" ("Prepare to fight"), and sell it to the entertainment industry. In the same way, Buffer has acted in movies, among them Rocky V and Rocky Balboa, has also announced Lucha Libre fights, music events and other sports such as baseball and soccer.

Bruce Buffer

At 61, Bruce Buffer has been the voice of the UFC since 1996 at the UFC 8 event. However, he would not become "The Octagon Voice" until UFC 13, an income that could be due to his brother Michael Buffer, who at the beginning also had planned to be an announcer of the UFC, but due to his occupations with boxing, he gave the step to his brother, according to Sher Dog.

Bruce has a more energetic style and a more powerful voice than his brother, who prefers to announce with more tranquility and elegance, this has made Bruce a fundamental part of this sport, which needs the phrase "It's time "(" It's time ") to start each fight.

Also, Bruce is also an expert in the topic of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), so he has a radio program called "It's time" to analyze fights of this sport. According to the website The Richest, Bruce charges approximately $ 30,000 for each fight presented and has a net worth of $ 10 million.