Mauro Ranallo

Mauro Ranallo
Born	December 21, 1969 (1969-12-21) (age 41) Abbotsford, British Columbia
Occupation	Announcer & Voice Artist

Mauro Domenico Antonio Ranallo (born December 21, 1969) is a Canadian sports announcer and commentator, with experience in football, hockey, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts events. He is best known for his work as a commentator for PRIDE FC and, more recently, Showtime for Elite XC and Strikeforce broadcasts. He is currently an announcer for Strikeforce mixed martial arts alongside Gus Johnson. He began announcing when he was 16 years old. In 2006, he was lead news anchor and play-by-play announcer for the Canadian combat sports channel The Fight Network. Since leaving The Fight Network he has become the voice of MMA for Showtime MMA, host his own radio show at the The Score Television Network available on iTunes and is the lead announcer of the Muay Thai Premier League a global combat sports league featuring the fighting arts of Muay Thai.

Biography

Ranallo graduated from WJ Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford. He began his career as an announcer and manager at the age of 16, when he was offered a job with All-Star Wrestling (in Vancouver), a nationally televised wrestling show throughout Canada. After that program ended production and the promotion folded in 1989, Ranallo became a disc jockey for Abbotsford, British Columbia radio station CFVR (now CKQC-FM).

Later, he provided commentary announcing duties for Muay Thai/Kickboxing events and King of the Cage mixed martial arts shows on Canada's TSN.^[1] From 1999 to 2000, he served as the commentator for the legendary Stampede Wrestling TV show in Calgary. His color-commentator was the late Bad News Allen. He became most prominently known among MMA fans as the voice of PRIDE Fighting Championships PPV broadcasts in North America from 2003 until October 2006. He was initially paired with friend, longtime-PRIDE commentator, and MMA legend Bas Rutten. After Rutten departed the broadcast, Bas was replaced by Frank Trigg. Ranallo was also the commentator for KVOS-TV's Top Ranked Wrestling for most of that program's run in 2005–06. Ranallo was also a member of the EliteXC and ShoXC broadcast team until their closure in October 2008. He is perhaps best remembered for his over-the-top dramatic style, which involves heavy use of metaphor, puns and advanced vocabulary. Ranallo can also be seen and heard calling the MMA action on Hardcore Championship Fighting, broadcast across Canada on The Score, along with his broadcast partner Paul "The Mauler" Lazenby. Since January 2009, he also hosts "The MMA Show" which can be seen weekly on the channel. Ranallo was also one of three analysts on The Score's show "Right After Wrestling", now called "Aftermath", which airs after The Score's airing of WWE SMACKDOWN and the replay of WWE RAW.^[2]

He is also a member of the rankings committee for the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA). Ranallo can be heard on "Fight Network Radio" through Sirius Hardcore Sports Radio Channel 98. Ranallo currently works as a broadcaster for Showtime Networks, and provides commentary for Strikeforce and other events on Showtime and CBS.

References

1. ^ Yahoo! (2006-08-10). "Mauro Ranallo Joins The Fight Network". http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060810/0152894.html. 
2. ^ The Score Debuts Right After Wrestling - Sportsnet.ca Communities

External links

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Ranallo, Mauro
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 21, 1969
Place of birth	Abbotsford, British Columbia
Date of death
Place of death