NFL legend and former UFC commentator Jim Brown has passed away at the age of 87.
Brown, the 1957 NFL rookie of the year and a three-time MVP in the league, passed away peacefully overnight, wife Monique announced on Friday.
“It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of my husband, Jim Brown. He passed peacefully last night at our LA home. To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star. To our family, he was a living and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather,” Monique Brown wrote on social media. “Our hearts are broken.”
Brown was one of the first voices heard on the inaugural UFC broadcast in 1993. Alongside Bill Wallace and Kathy Long, Brown provided on-air commentary for UFC 1 on November 1, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, CO.
At the time, the celebrity athlete panel was a big score for the fledgling promotion, bringing some much-needed legitimacy to what was viewed then and in the years to come as a barbaric sport.
Royce Gracie would go on to win the inaugural UFC tournament that night, with Brown in the booth. The NFL star, also an actor and social activist, was back for UFC 2 the following year, again won by Gracie. He would stick with the promotion until UFC 6: Clash of the Titan in July 1995 in Wyoming, replaced by Don “The Dragon” Wilson at UFC 7.
Brown won an NFL championship in 1964 with the Cleveland Browns, who he spent his entire playing career with. He retired the following year. Seen as one of the greatest running backs of all time, Brown finished his career with 12,312 rushing yards, as well as 106 rushing touchdowns. He would go on to have a successful acting career, appearing in both movie and TV productions Police Story, CHIPS, Knight Rider, T.J. Hooker, The A-Team, and the Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday.
