Dana White Heaps Praise On Laura Sanko, Believes She Is ‘The Ronda Rousey Of Commentators’
UFC president, Dana White has claimed that recent color-commentary debutante, Laura Sanko is “the Ronda Rousey of commentators” following the Kansas City native’s commentary debut earlier this week on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Sanko, a former professional mixed martial artist, competed just once in her career — scoring a second round rear-naked choke victory over Cassie Robb under the Invicta FC banner back in January 2013.
Making history on Tuesday night, Sanko became the first female to enter the commentary booth of the Zuffa era, as well as the first female to serve as a color-commentator since Kathy Long called UFC 1 back in November 1993.
Reacting to Sanko’s performance following the event, White explained that Sanko appeared quite “frazzled” with the workload on Tuesday night at the UFC Apex facility, but done a great job in her new position nevertheless.
“She (Laura Sanko) was running around like a lunatic tonight,” White laughed. “When I walked in there she seemed a little frazzled, and I said, ‘Hey, kid — be careful what you wish for, kid, be careful what you wish for.’“
“Congratulations to her, she’s earned it, she deserves it, she belongs there,” White explained. “And she’s as educated and as good at talking about fights as anybody else in the game, so I think tonight was the beginning of a great career for her.“
Speaking with Yahoo! Sports following the event, Sanko detailed how the position came to fruition, with a text from White before she landed in ‘Sin City’ earlier this week.
“I was about 20 minutes from landing and Dana’s (White) text said, ‘Come see me in my office when you get to Las Vegas,” Laura Sanko said. “There’s never any context when you get a text. There are no emotions behind it. So I was wondering what was up. I said to myself, ‘Well, you’re either fired or something good might be happening,’ I had no way of knowing.“
Sanko explained that when she arrived at UFC Headquarters in Las Vegas, White had offered her the commentary role, but explained that if she wouldn’t be ready to take the position, he would delay the role until Week 2 of the Contender Series, however, Sanko said she could not turn the opportunity down; “There was no way I was saying no,” Sanko said.
White explained that he plans for Sanko to continue as color-commentator for the 10-week period that the Contender Series season runs, and after that, she will feature in the commentary booth for Fight Night billed events as well as UFC pay-per-view events.
“There was never even a question in my mind [that she’d do well], which is why I put here in there,” White told. “One hundred percent, she is the Ronda Rousey of commentators. She knows her sh*t and she’s smart and has everything you want to see. I didn’t want to take her off the interviews because she’s fantastic at that, and that’s not easy to do, but I felt she was ready for this (commentary). We all met Friday and all of us felt the same way, that it was time.“
