The UFC Vegas 107 main card got off to a rocky start before the fights kicked off.
On-air bloopers are common in sports broadcasting. From name mispronunciations, to hot mics and surprise camera shots, broadcasters make mistakes every once in a while that turn into viral moments.
UFC Vegas 107 featured a women’s flyweight headliner between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber. Both contenders were looking to make a statement and garner the attention of UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, who sat cageside to watch the action.
But as intrigue grew for the UFC Vegas 107 main card, featuring knockout artists and accomplished veterans, things got off to a rocky start on the ESPN broadcast.
UFC Vegas 107 main card gets off to a bizarre start thanks to broadcast blooper
The UFC Vegas 107 broadcast team featured play-by-play man Brendon Fitzgerald alongside UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier and analyst Laura Sanko. It took a while for the broadcast to get to the first fight on the prelims, as viewers waited almost 40 minutes for the card’s first matchup to kick off.
After an entertaining preliminary card, featuring the return of one of Paddy Pimblett’s former rivals, things transitioned to the headlining portion of the event. As the crew previewed the first main card bout, a middleweight fight between Zach Reese and Dusko Todorovic, things took a bizarre turn on the broadcast.
As Fitzgerald transitioned to commentator Minty Bets, who made several picks throughout the night, she failed to get her words out due to an apparent teleprompter issue at the UFC Apex.
Watch the bizarre incident below.
Luckily, this would end up being the lone blooper for Minty Bets during the UFC Vegas 107 broadcast, and she transitioned out of the uncomfortable moment with relative ease. But it was a healthy reminder that things can quickly go wrong while watching sports, leading to at-times viral moments for all involved.
Reese went on to win the UFC Vegas 107 main card opener by unanimous decision. He bounced back from a brutal first-round knockout earlier this year at UFC 311.
UFC Vegas 107 featured a roller coaster fight week with cancelations and weight misses
Minty Bets’s awkward moment capped off what was a weird fight week ahead of UFC Vegas 107.
On Friday, Barber missed weight for the first time in her UFC career by 1.5 pounds, a surprising moment from the up-and-coming star. A welterweight matchup between Andreas Gustafsson and Trevin Giles was pulled from UFC Vegas 107 after Giles allegedly suffered a head injury just hours before the fight.
Flyweight Allan Nascimento missed weight ahead of his win at UFC Vegas 107 over Jafel Filho, and a bantamweight clash between Ketlen Vieira and Macy Chiasson was moved to featherweight after Vieira struggled to make the weight limit on Friday.
Follow along here at Bloody Elbow for all the latest highlights and results from UFC Vegas 107.