Michael Buffer (born November 2, 1944) is an American ring announcer (or "MC") for boxing, professional wrestling, and National Football League events.
Pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other inflections to a fighter’s name, and known for his trademarked catchphrase: "Let's get ready to rumble!
In 2018, Buffer signed with DAZN to serve as the exclusive ring announcer for all of its boxing broadcasts, which include deals with Matchroom.
[10] WCW's former parent company Time Warner owned through their pay-per-view subscription division HBO, which broadcast many matches from promoter Top Rank, of which Buffer is the lead ring announcer.
On Saturday Night's Main Event XXXV, for the first time in more than six years, Buffer returned to pro-wrestling ring announcing duties at Madison Square Garden in a boxing match between pro boxer Evander Holyfield (who was substituting for Montel Vontavious Porter) and pro wrestler Matt Hardy.
On November 10, 2008, Buffer started the heads-up action between the two remaining players, Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov at the 2008 World Series of Poker final table with a modified version of his trademark statement: "Let's get ready to shuffle up and deal.
"[citation needed] On September 12, 2021, Buffer announced for NBC's Sunday Night Football matchup, where the Los Angeles Rams hosted the Chicago Bears at the first regular season NFL game with fan attendance in SoFi Stadium.
[16] On June 28, 2024, Buffer announced his hometown Philadelphia Flyers's 13th overall pick of the first round of the 2024 NHL entry draft at the Sphere in Vegas using his trademarked catchphrase, introducing draft pick Jett Luchanko with his height and weight like Buffer would in the ring, along with Luchanko's previous team.[17].
In February 2025, Buffer made the trip to England to announce the opening match of the Super League season at the Brick Community Stadium between defending champions the Wigan Warriors and local rivals the Leigh Leopards[18].
Buffer has also served as ringside announcer for the syndicated television game show The Grudge Match, hosted by Steve Albert and Jesse Ventura.
He has played himself in various films including Ready to Rumble and Rocky Balboa, and in 2008 Buffer appeared as Walbridge, the main villain in the comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan.
[citation needed] Buffer appeared in the extended version of the Muppets webisode "Food Fight", where he is seen announcing the cooking competition between Gordon Ramsay and the Swedish Chef.
[citation needed] He recorded the introduction track for country artist Josh Turner's 2012 album, Punching Bag.
In 2013, Buffer appeared in Progressive Insurance commercials, promoting their program of combining different coverages into one policy, with a parody of his famous phrase – "Let's get ready to bundle!
Buffer uses his famous phrase in various licensing deals including the platinum selling album Jock Jams by Tommy Boy Records, the video games Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance and Greatest Heavyweights for the Sega Genesis and numerous other products.
In addition, he has used variations of the phrase in advertisements, including the popular commercial for Mega Millions in which he says "Let's get ready to Win Big!"
[5] On September 13, 2007, while making an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Buffer proposed to his current (third) wife, Christine.