Sean Grande steps away as the play-by-play voice of Bellator MMA

Bellator’s debut at Madison Square Garden fill feature a few changes, including a new play-by-play commentator as Sean Grande exits the promotion in a heartfelt letter on Monday.

Sean Grande will no longer be the play-by-play voice for Bellator MMA.

In a heartfelt letter, which was sent to MMA Fighting, Grande wrote that he would be stepping away, for now, from commentating for the organization and in the sport. He steps down right before Bellator heads to Madison Square Garden and back to pay-per-view on June 24. The main reason for the decision was an expanded workload, due to Bellator adding more annual events. As the radio voice for the Boston Celtics and a family man, understandably, the list of professional obligations has become a bit too much.

“The rapid expansion of Bellator in that time was an amazing thing to be a part of,” Grande wrote in the letter. “But, and you knew the ‘but’ was coming at some point, it was a double-edged sword for me. The deal I signed two years ago, to call 16 shows, half of which would be in the NBA off-season, would be taxing, but manageable.

“You know the rest of the story. 16 almost out of nowhere became 22..23..24. A third of them overseas, two-thirds of them during the NBA season. Suddenly, Boston/Oklahoma City/San Antonio/New Orleans road trips, had intermediate stops in Torino, Italy or Budapest, Hungary. It quickly spiraled out of control.

“How crazy was year two? Remember that 16 shows a year thing? This year we did 18…during the Celtics season. I ducked my head and plowed through. For the company, for my Spike teammates and mostly, for my son. I was taking red-eye flights overseas to arrive on the morning of a show. I was doing fighter interviews on bad WiFi Facetime sitting courtside in loud NBA arenas.”

Grande had to look deep within himself to make the decision he has made. Did he want to stick around as Bellator would expand to become bigger and more appealing worldwide? Or, was his personal health and his family more important in his life? Grande chose the latter.

“I ignored the growing concerns about my health, and while being away from my son is part of the deal in my line of work, there are no home games in Bellator,” Grande continued. “So at the end of the day, the end of this year, it was just simply way too much time away from him.

“It finally became clear to me, on one of many trans-Atlantic flights, that something was going to have to give. I mean, who was going to write the walkout monologue at the funeral if I was the one in the casket?

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“And as a casual, internal discussion ramped up, there was just no geographic, logistical math that said I could keep up that pace.”

Throughout the statement, Grande opened up about discovering the challenge of calling live MMA events, but also how he fell in love with the sport. He also praised his partner and color commentator Jimmy Smith, calling him an “elite” broadcaster.

Grande closed the letter by not shutting the door all the way on his MMA commentary career. If the opportunity presents itself, and the logistics match up, he may walk back through it.

“I could say goodbye, I could say so long for now, you never truly know in this crazy business,” Grande said. “If the opportunity arises, and my schedule allows, I promise to come back. I loved sharing fights with you. You know better than anyone, once this MMA thing gets in to your bloodstream, it’s in there for life.”

There has been no announcement from Bellator on who would replace Grande. Fans and media alike have been throwing out the name of former UFC play-by-play voice Mike Goldberg.