The voice of the — WEC — Octagon, Joe Martinez, will be leaving his duties as ring announcer, according to Martinez’s Twitter and MMADieHards.com, where he hosts a radio show.
“Family, friends and fans – thanks for all of your support – I am out as the WEC ring announcer. Family reason that couldn’t be compromised,” Martinez wrote Monday night on his Twitter.
According to his statements to MMADieHards.com, Martinez is leaving the WEC to allow him to fulfill commitments with Golden Boy Productions as the boxing announcer for Solo Boxeo Tecate.
“I was more than willing to work around the possible conflicts,” Martinez said in the report. “But another main factor was my work within other areas of combat sports. While I do not feel my association with a Spanish-language boxing production has any crossover, it appears to have been a big issue.”
Martinez, a sports announcer for over 14 years, has been the WEC announcer since WEC 17 on October 14, 2005. Martinez’s last event was at WEC 47 earlier this March since he was substituted by Bruce Buffer last month at WEC 48 in accordance to Zuffa’s “pay-per-view team.”
No replacement for Martinez has been made at this time.
