MTV host, BMX rider, musician. MMA color commentator?That's right. Add another line item on the resume of T.J. Lavin, who is ready to embark on a new chapter in his life on the heels of his recovery following a life-threatening BMX crash in October 2010.
Lavin will share the commentating booth with MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan at Saturday's Superior Cage Combat 1 event in Las Vegas.
The event takes place at Bally's Events Center inside Bally's Las Vegas. The card is headlined by a lightweight matchup between UFC veterans Steve Lopez (12-4) and Justin Buchholz (10-6).
For those unable to attend, the action will be broadcast at a date and time yet to be determined. A future DVD release also is in the works.
"I'm so excited," Lavin told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "It's a dream job. Who doesn't want to be a Joe Rogan? You know what I mean? That's the best seat in the house. You get to talk about fighting all the time. It's the best sport in the world. It's so fun. I think it's really cool and I'm honored to be a part of the SCC."
While he may be a neophyte on the microphone, he's certainly no stranger to MMA. Lavin wrestled at Clark High School in his native Las Vegas and has been a fan of the sport for longer than most – ever since the UFC's inception in 1993.
"I watched the very first UFCs," he said. "I'm pretty old. I was watching them when they were on pay-per-view back in the day when Royce Gracie was tapping people out.
"I was very interested back then. I was in high school. I would see that and I was like, 'Man, this is sick.' We loved it. We were watching those, and I just remember thinking this was going to be the biggest thing since sliced bread."
Predictably, he's come across a professional fighter or two while living in Las Vegas his entire life. An encounter he had with former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir a while back got him even more involved with the sport and officially engrained in its culture.
"Frank Mir just happens to work out at my gym one day," Lavin said. "I was like, 'Hey, I'm a big fan.' I told him I rode bikes, and then we became friends. He's like, 'Why don't you come with me and learn some stuff?' I was like, 'Alright.'
"I went down with him. We went to Cobra Kai (Jiu Jitsu). We trained a little bit. Then the rest is history. I fell in love with jiu jitsu and stuff like that just for fitness. It was really good."
Other local fighters such as Gray Maynard and Frank Trigg have become some of Lavin's closest friends in recent years. Trigg even named his new baby boy Lavin as a tribute to his pal.
For now, Lavin's relationship with MMA in general has morphed into an outlet, a needed escape while he continues to recover from the horrific wreck he endured roughly seven months ago during a qualifying run at a Dew Tour event about a mile east from where he will commentate on Saturday.
"I was in a coma for a couple weeks and everything," Lavin said. "It was a hard crash. I've been chilling for a little while. That's what I have to do. I have to not ride my dirt bike and not take slams.
"I just had my last wrist surgery a week and a half ago. My wrist is getting there. Everything else is going great. My vision is back. I can see again. My face is still numb. My fingers are still numb. Other than that, I really can't complain."
If that's the case, he may very well be just as tough as the fighters he's about to analyze up close and personal in the cage tomorrow.
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