Buffer first ventured into martial arts when he was thirteen years old and living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studying judo and achieving the rank of green belt. He moved to Malibu, California with his family at the age of fifteen and befriended two of the students of Chuck Norris, who introduced him to Tang Soo Do, in which he holds a second degree black belt. He began kickboxing in his twenties but was forced to give the sport up at 32 after suffering his second concussion.
In 1996, Buffer announced the preliminary fight on UFC 8, and later hosted all fights at UFC 10. In 1997 he appeared as himself on the Season 3 Episode 24 of the Friends sitcom, "The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion". At the stage he convinced UFC owner Robert Myer to hire him as the full-time ring announcer, starting with UFC 13.
Buffer uses catch phrases in his UFC announcing, and also has a signature move called the "Buffer 180", in which he motions directly across the Octagon before quickly spinning 180° and pointing to the corner being introduced. Buffer performs 45° and 90° turns before most "Buffer 180s", but reserves the "Buffer 180" for main events and co-main events. At UFC 100, after months of encouragement from Joe Rogan, Buffer performed a "Buffer 360" during his introduction of Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar. He also performed the "Buffer Bow" exclusively for Randy Couture and Anderson Silva, bending down as a knight would to a king in the accolade.

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