Laura Sanko says she’s known about her first opportunity to call a UFC pay-per-view “for a few months” prior to Saturday’s card in Australia, but admits she was surprised it happened when it did because it came out of nowhere.
Sanko will join Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier has part of the UFC 293 commentary team for Saturday’s event in Sydney. Sanko becomes the first woman to be on the commentary team for a pay-per-view event since Kathy Long did it at UFC 1 in November 1993.
Ahead of UFC 293, Sanko joined MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck to react to getting the chance to be a part of Saturday’s broadcast trio, discuss the reactions — both positive and negative — from fans and why she had to ignore social media this week, the buzz in Sydney, the main event for the middleweight title between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland, what things would look like at 185 if Strickland were to pull off the massive upset, the UFC 293 press conference, her relationship with Long, her appreciation for Anik as a play-by-play voice, and more.
Watch the full interview in the video above.