Making History! OutKick's Charly Arnolt Becomes First UFC Female Announcer

Congratulations to our very own Charly Arnolt who made Octagon history this past weekend by becoming the first female to ever be a UFC ring announcer!

The host of OutKick the Morning wasn't expecting to have to enter the octagon and takeover the hosting duties, but just like a fighter taking a match up on short notice, Charly rose to the occasion and absolutely crushed it.

IT ALMOST DIDN'T HAPPEN

"I did not have this on my 2024 Bingo card," Arnolt explained.

"I was working on UFC Fight Night… I was going through my normal reporter responsibilities, and next thing I know, one of my producers came up to me and said that they had a bit of a bind that they were in," after UFC ring announcer Joe Martinez began feeling ill and losing his voice.

However, Charly says that at first she turned down the opportunity!

"I was having a moment of panic because that's a tough job, and I've never done that before, and I didn't want to screw up… this was being televised on ESPN, it wasn't a tiny Fight Night only found on digital," Arnolt continued. "I just didn't want to screw up."

However, after some time went by and an intervention from her makeup artist, who gave her some last-minute motivation, Charly said she went back and said she'd fill in. And by "time went by," I mean less than 3 minutes, as Charly said it all happened super quickly from being asked to fill in for Joe to then having to do the fight announcement.

You can watch that and more of Charly's story of how it all went down here:

"I NEVER IMAGINED I'D MAKE HISTORY!"

"I had no idea at the time that this was a history-making moment [being the first female announcer], I thought I was just filling in, and I know there's so many other very talented people that work for UFC and I just had no idea that this was going to be historic… until I went on social media," Arnolt explained. "I just never imagined I'd be someone who would make history."

Arnolt admits that it was frightening but that she's happy that she went through with it while also thanking her producers and those that helped her backstage.

"It was scary for me, and everybody around me… was just so believing in me and gave me the confidence that I needed."

Congratulations, Charly!

If you want to learn more about Charly and her takes on the UFC and plenty more, make sure to tune into OutKick the Morning every Monday thru Friday at 8am eastern!