Doug Jeffrey: Can you compare mixed martial arts to the other sports you announce? Is it harder to announce, is it easier, or is it not even a fair comparison?

Gus Johnson: No, you can compare. For me, I grew up playing football, I grew up playing basketball, I grew up playing baseball, and hockey, and all those different sports. I was a wrestler as a kid. The difference though with mixed martial arts is you're combining five different styles: boxing, traditional western boxing, submission wrestling, jui-jitsu and Kung Fu. When you go out there and you watch one of these events you're going to see guys that have different disciplines and they're using these different disciplines so the challenge is to be able to explain what's going on.

And especially from the jui-jitsu side; I think the jui-jitsu side is what makes it really, really wonderful. I also love the Muay Thai side as well with the cut kicks and the front kicks and the roundhouses and the spinning back fists and the elbows and all those kind of things.

And then you have clinch fighting and that's a whole different dynamic as well. So it's different for me. It's challenging because the jui-jitsu side, the Muay Tai side, are new sports for me or new art forms for me that I'm trying to learn as I go on, but I think that in time, not only with me but with the people that watch on a regular basis and with the people that are new fans to mixed martial arts this is – these are going to be household terms and slogans. Watching a mixed martial arts fight is going it be a norm I believe in the upcoming future.

Doug Jeffrey: Gus, your bio indicates you're now studying some of the ground fighting. Does that give you a greater appreciation of what those guys do inside the ring?

Gus Johnson: Oh, my goodness, I can't even tell you. You're absolutely . . .

Doug Jeffrey: Yes.

Gus Johnson: ... right. I go to class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan. My teacher is a black belt in Brazilian jui-jitsu and – like, for example, yesterday we were working on escaping rear naked chokes and also applying rear naked chokes. We're also working on our backs and trying to escape side position, but at the same time when we have side position trying to establish the leverage to either get your knee on top of your opponent's chest by grabbing his belt and grabbing the back of his (gi) and then getting your knee on his chest and either choking him out or setting him up for an arm bar.