Laura Sanko will be making history at UFC Fight Night.
The UFC announced on Monday evening that Sanko will be making her color commentary debut on Saturday night for the Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac event from the UFC Apex. Sanko will become the first female color commentator in the modern UFC era to call an official UFC event.
.@laura_sanko will make her debut this Saturday at #UFCVegas68 🎤 pic.twitter.com/ACZW6rgwzl
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 31, 2023
Laura Sanko on Joining the UFC Fight Night Commentary Team
“Taking the next step to join the UFC commentary team has been a goal of mine since I began my broadcast career,” Laura Sanko said in the press release. “It is an honor to walk in the footprint of Kathy Long 30 years after her appearance on UFC 1. I consider it a true privilege to be part of the team that is a voice to our incredible fans, communicating the fighting art of each man and woman who steps inside the UFC Octagon.”
Laura Sanko has been working with the UFC since 2016 as a backstage reporter but has since become a color commentator on Dana White’s Contender Series. With that, Dana White said the timing couldn’t be better for Sanko to become the first female color commentator in the modern UFC era.
“I can’t think of anyone better to be the first female color commentator for the modern UFC era than Laura,” UFC President Dana White said in the release. “She has worked incredibly hard to prove herself and get to this position and I couldn’t be prouder to have her calling the action.”
The UFC Fight Night event is headlined by a heavyweight bout between Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac. The full card Sanko will be commentating on is below.
UFC Fight Night 218 Full Fight Card
Main Card
- Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac
- Devin Clark vs. Da-un Jung
- Blagoy Ivanov vs. Marcin Tybura
- Dooho Choi vs. Kyle Nelson
- Adam Fugitt vs. Yusaku Kinoshita
Preliminaries
- Anshul Jubli vs. Jeka Saragih
- Jeong Yeong Lee vs. Yi Zha
- Toshiomi Kazama vs. Rinya Nakamura
- Seung Guk Choi vs. Sung Hyun Park
- Mandy Bohm vs. Ji Yeon Kim
- Junyong Park vs. Denis Tiuliulin
- Jesus Santos Aguilar vs. Tatsuro Taira
