Off Guard: PFL's ex-WWE announcer Lilian Garcia 'fell in love with MMA from the get-go'
We’ve seen host of high-profile crossovers between professional wrestling and mixed martial arts, with a handful of big-name athletes swapping one discipline for the other. One person who appears to have made an effortless transition from the WWE to MMA is the PFL’s cage announcer, Lilian Garcia.
Garcia was the in-ring voice of the WWE for nearly two decades, opening their flagship show Monday Night Raw and their big pay-per-view events by singing The Star Spangled Banner to packed arena crowds before taking up her duties as the ring announcer for the shows themselves.
In May 2019, Garcia swapped the squared circle for the PFL cage as she followed in the footsteps of her fellow former WWE colleagues Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and Jake “Jack Swagger” Hager and made the switch to the world of MMA.
Now firmly established as the voice of the PFL, Garcia introduces the combatants inside the cage before the fights begin, then makes the results official by announcing the winner after each fight. And, while some people are first intrigued by MMA and take a little time to develop a real affinity for the sport, for Garcia it was love at first sight, as she explained to MMA Junkie backstage at PFL 7 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
“I fell in love with MMA from the get-go,” she smiled. “So it’s not even a thing where I’ve been falling in love with it, literally from my first time at cageside seeing it, wow. I was blown away.
“I had seen some on TV, like Brock Lesnar or Conor McGregor, those guys. But when you see it live it’s very, very different.”
And, working for the PFL, Garcia says the promotion’s unique league format has helped strengthen her connection with the sport and the PFL’s athletes as she follows the fortunes of the fighters through the course of the season.
“I love this organization,” she said. “I love the format. The format has made it a lot of fun for me. I can follow the fighters from the regular season now into the playoffs, and then really root for whoever it is to go for the championship. It’s just a lot more fun.”