Full Interview

"The Voice" Michael Schiavello is most notorious for his wit and classic one liners during his commentary that Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts fans have enjoyed world wide. Many have seen him commentate for K-1, Fox Sports, Dream, HDNet Fights, and even the Beijing Olympics, but some people know very little about this Australian combat sports commentator.  Schiavello boldly pulled no punches in this interview and revealed all to MMA Recap's reporter Andrew Gladstone.

When did you first get into mma and kickboxing?

"I grew up watching martial arts films with my dad every weekend.  My dad practised Judo when he was young and he always liked martial arts so every weekend we would go to the video library and rent Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee films.  But my first actual introduction to kickboxing was on December 6, 1992, when I attended my first fight as a 17 year old.  It as Stan "The Man" Longinidis vs Dennis Alexio.  The fight only lasted 14 seconds but I was hooked immediately.  As for MMA like most everyone else, I saw the first UFC in 1993 and thought, this is freakin' wicked!"

 

When did you first start announcing? And what got you into announcing?

"My first ever announcing gig was in high school when I called Track and Field for the APS Championships at Olympic Park in Melbourne.  Later I would do a lot of soccer commentating on radio.  When I was 21 a promoter in Melbourne asked me to commentate his kickboxing show.  I had never done any fight commentary but I gave it a go and I was just really comfortable with it and this monster came out of me!  I was dropping Goodnight Irenes and other one liners.  Another promoter heard it and asked me to commentate his show.  Then Foxtel was coming to Australia at that time we had never had cable TV and they were taking on kickboxing content and asked me to commentate the shows on Fox Sports.  I guess I had talent for it but more than that I had a lot of passion and a willingness to always improve myself with each and every show.  I also had this original style that I just kept working on and working on until I made it my signature."

 

What has been your favorite fight to announce?

"Wow this is a hard question to someone who has commentated over 4,000 fights!! If I have to pinpoint one fight it would be 2007 at the Budokan in Tokyo when Masato fought Buakaw in a K-1 MAX fight.  It was epic. I commentated with Ray Sefo and Mike Bernardo and it was just an unbelievable fight with a commentary that just flowed.  We were on fire that night.  You can watch the fight on youtube and check out the commentary. It was just insane!" 

 

What has been your favorite event?

"Again so hard because they are all special, from calling the Olympic Games in Beijing last year to the Contender Asia, to having called seven K-1 Grand Prix's, three Dynamites, all the DREAM shows, etc.  If I had to choose just one and I'm struggling to choose just one, I would have to say Dream 9 was an awesome night and really introduced me as an MMA commentator to the US Audience.  Also Dynamite 2006 when Sakuraba fought Akiyama was off the chard.  So too was the K-1 Grand Prix 2008."

You have some of the funniest punch lines during your broadcasts, have you ever thought of being a comedian?

"No.  I respect the hell out of comedians.  Those guys are super smart and just incredible in what they do. I'm good in infusing comedy in what I do but actually getting on stage and doing a comic set is something I don't think I could do.  Actually, I take that back, I probably could do it but wouldn't be any good at it!  I will leave the comedy to the experts such as Pablo Francisco, Bill Bellamy, and Gabriel Iglesias who are three of my favorite comics."

 

What's it like being the most pimp commentator in all of combat sports?

"Hahaha.  Why thank you!  I don't know what qualifies one as being dubbed a "pimp" but thank you all the same.  If you call me the most pimp commentator in combat sports then I say pimpin' is easy."