Karyn Bryant | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Karyn Elaine Bryant December 23, 1968 Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, writer, television personality |
| Notable credit(s) | CNN anchor, MTV VJ, Showtime Championship Boxing Commentator |
| Spouse | Wade Eck (m. 2001;div. 2021) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | www |
Karyn Elaine Bryant (born December 23, 1968) is an American actress, writer, and television personality.
Bryant was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. While in Massachusetts, she completed secondary school at Lawrence Academy at Groton, and received a Bachelor's Degree [1] from Brown University with concentrations in political science and sociology. She is of Jamaican descent. [2]
Bryant's love of music led to her first television job [1] in 1990, as an MTV VJ. She later hosted a live, daily music program on FX called Sound fX alongside Matt Ostrom and Orlando Jones. Jeff Probst replaced Jones toward the end of the show's run.
Bryant was chosen by TNT to host a series of entertainment vignettes called Rough Cut. The success of the vignettes prompted TNT to turn Rough Cut into a weekly television series hosted and written by Bryant. This marked the beginning of Bryant's professional relationship with Turner Broadcasting. TBS soon launched the wraparound series Movies, For Guys Who Like Movies , allowing Bryant to drive a U.S. Naval LCAC hovercraft, train with Marine snipers and engage in other activities. Lorne Michaels later picked Bryant to host his new daily VH1 game show, Name That Video in 2001; Bryant filmed 50 episodes.
After a brief stint hosting CNN's Talk Back Live , Bryant was chosen to co-anchor CNN's revamped Showbiz Tonight in 2004. [3]
Bryant, a Patriots and Red Sox fan, joined ESPN for their first live New Years Eve show as the countdown to 2006 began. That year, Bryant joined the Showtime Championship Boxing announcer team with Steve Albert, Al Bernstein and Jim Gray. In May 2008, Bryant was invited by CBS to join their Elite Xtreme Combat announcer team [4] for their new primetime mixed martial arts programming, debuting mixed martial arts for the first time on primetime network television May 31, 2008. [5] Bryant also co-owns MMAheat.com which covers most mixed martial arts sporting events. MMA H.E.A.T. (the show) [6] is a half-hour sports and entertainment podcast that Bryant writes and anchors ("H.E.A.T." stands for "Heart. Endurance. Aggression. Technique."). As of the end or 2018 she co-hosted most of the UFC Pre and Post shows on ESPN. [7]
Frank Shamrock is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship and retired as an undefeated champion. Shamrock was the No. 1 ranked pound for pound UFC fighter in the world during his reign as the UFC Middleweight Champion. Shamrock has won numerous titles in other martial arts organizations, including the interim King of Pancrase title, the WEC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Shamrock is regarded as one of the first complete mixed martial artists, having adapted his game from a ground-focused style of fighting to a more well-rounded and versatile style. He is a seventh degree black belt in submission fighting.
Strikeforce was an American mixed martial arts and kickboxing organization based in San Jose, California that operated from 1985 to 2013. It was headed by CEO Scott Coker.
Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States–based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on December 14, 2006. It was headquartered in Los Angeles.
A ring announcer is an in-ring employee or contractor for a boxing, professional wrestling or mixed martial arts event or promotion, who introduces the competitors to the audience.
ProElite, Inc. is an American entertainment and media company involved in the promotion of mixed martial arts (MMA).
ShoXC is a mixed martial arts series produced by the mixed martial arts organization EliteXC, Showtime and Proelite.com. The series was announced on July 11, 2007. The purpose of the show is to highlight up and coming MMA fighters.
Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts is an American mixed martial arts training organization headed by former UFC Champion and former co-founder of Team Quest, Randy Couture. Xtreme Couture was founded with the flagship gym in Las Vegas. Since then, the franchise has spread to other cities in the United States and Canada. Xtreme Couture Las Vegas is one of the largest gyms and most recognized brands and MMA gyms in the world, where many past and current top MMA fighters train.
EliteXC: Street Certified was a mixed martial arts event promoted by EliteXC that took place on Saturday, February 16, 2008, at the BankUnited Center in Miami, Florida.
EliteXC: Primetime was a mixed martial arts event promoted by Elite Xtreme Combat taking place on May 31, 2008 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice, was a Bahamian-born American mixed martial artist, professional boxer, and actor. Originally a bare-knuckle boxer, he became noted for his role in mutual combat street fight videos which were spread online, leading Rolling Stone to call him "The King of the Web Brawlers".
EliteXC: Unfinished Business was a mixed martial arts event held by EliteXC on July 26, 2008 in Stockton, CA at Stockton Arena.
James Frederick "Jimmy" Lennon Jr. is an American boxing ring announcer who is employed primarily by Showtime and Fox Sports as ring announcer for their Showtime Championship Boxing and Premier Boxing Champions, also by Bob Arum's Top Rank on ESPN events. Lennon was also employed by Fox Sports when it previously had rights to professional boxing and was the ring announcer for Don King Promotions' fights that aired on various networks. He is best known for his catchphrase, "It's showtime!" but the catchphrase is not spoken during Fox's fight coverage.
EliteXC: Heat was a mixed martial arts event held by Elite Xtreme Combat on October 4, 2008, in Sunrise, Florida, at the BankAtlantic Center. The event was scheduled to be headlined with a heavyweight fight between Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice, but Shamrock had to pull out due to an injury and Seth Petruzelli was called up to replace him. Petruzelli delivered a shock win by knocking out Slice, but the fight was overshadowed by accusations that Petruzelli had been offered a payment by EliteXC's promoters to not fight Slice on the ground. The event also featured a heavyweight match between Andrei Arlovski and Roy Nelson in a cross-promotional event, and drew an estimated 4,560,000 viewers on CBS.
Prior to the closure of parent company ProElite on October 20, 2008, EliteXC: A Night of Champions was to be a mixed martial arts event held by EliteXC that would have taken place on November 8, 2008 in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Events Center. The event was scheduled to include two title fights and would have aired on the Showtime cable network.
Kyle Noke is an Australian retired mixed martial artist who competed as a Welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2002, Noke has also fought for EliteXC.
TNT Sports has occasionally televised college football games on its networks since 1982; that year, under an agreement with the NCAA, TBS became the first broadcaster to nationally televise college football on cable. After the NCAA broadcasting package was dismantled in 1984 following a Supreme Court ruling, TBS would broadcast SEC football from 1984 to 1992, along with selected bowl games through 2000.
Jon Anik is an American mixed martial arts commentator. He began his career as an anchor with ESPN for over five years before moving to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a play-by-play commentator in 2012. Anik's expertise in MMA has made him a highly sought-after commentator for high-profile events, and his passion for sports commentary has earned him a loyal following among sports fans worldwide.
Fox UFC Fight Night was the branding used for telecasts of mixed martial art competitions from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) that were produced by Fox Sports. Previously, UFC on Fox was also used as a blanket title for UFC events aired on the Fox network, although since the concurrent launch of Fox Sports 1 and rebranding of Fuel TV as Fox Sports 2 in August 2013, all live UFC broadcasts on Fox-owned networks have since used the name.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) has developed in Australia from a wide cross-section of sporting and martial arts disciplines to become the most popular combat sport in the country.
While mixed martial arts is primarily a male dominated sport, it does have female athletes. For instance, Female competition in Japan includes promotions such as DEEP Jewels. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Valkyrie, and Smackgirl. Professional mixed martial arts organizations in the United States that invite women to compete are industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship, the all female Invicta Fighting Championships, Resurrection Fighting Alliance, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Legacy Fighting Championship. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Strikeforce and EliteXC. There has been a growing awareness of women in mixed martial arts due to popular female fighters and personalities such as Amanda Nunes, Megumi Fujii, Gina Carano, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Alexa Grasso, and Joanna Jędrzejczyk and among others. Carano became known as "the face of women's MMA" after appearing in a number of EliteXC events. This was furthered by her appearances on MGM Television's 2008 revival of their game show American Gladiators.
