Jim Brown, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first color commentator, has died at the age of 87.
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News agency He was the first to report Brown’s death on Friday, noting that the soccer great star “passed away peacefully” at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday night, with his wife, Monique, at his bedside. While he was known for a string of accolades over his life, Brown appeared as the first color commentator on UFC broadcasts, sitting down with play-by-play caller Bill Wallace and fellow commentator and martial artist Cathy Long at UFC 1 in 1993.
Brown sat next to his cage for the first six UFC cards, marking the entire early era of Royce Gracie winner of UFCs 1, 2 and 4. The football star paid tribute to the fighters, at the time generally specialists in certain martial arts.
“Bill, I’ve been around the strongest fighters in the world: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson,” Brown stated at UFC 1. Huff, all these guys. But I’ll tell you, they can’t hold their own in this episode.”
Known as one of the hardest players on the field, Brown played running back for the Cleveland Browns while racking up an impressive amount of tackle. The 1957 NFL Rookie of the Year winner went on to have nine Pro Bowl assignments, accounting for every year of his career, and helped the Browns win the Super Bowl in 1964. Of the nine years he was active. For all he had done in the sport, Brown knew that this type of fight was an entirely different beast.
“Would I, you mean when I was in my prime,” Brown responded when asked if he would fight Wallace at UFC 1. Not a chance.”
Brown continued, “These guys are experts at what they do, they’ve trained for years, they’re champions. They know things no one else does.”
After retiring from the NFL in 1965, Brown began his career in film, starring in films like “The Dirty Dozen,” “Riot,” and “Black Gunn,” among many others. Of note, Brown also had a minor villain role in the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic “The Running Man,” playing the character “Fireball” wearing a jetpack and carrying a flamethrower.
The football legend worked hard after his retirement to fight for the rights of black Americans, founding Amer-I-Can to help youth and ex-convicts. He also worked alongside athletes such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ali, and many others to organize the Cleveland Summit in 1967, in connection with the Vietnam War and Ali’s decision not to join the military. He is also considered the first black commentator for a television broadcast about boxing, doing so in 1965 for the heavyweight championship bout between Ernie Terrell and George Chuvalo.