Ryan Bennett

Ryan Bennett (August 20, 1970 – May 31, 2006) was a sportscaster and co-founder of the popular mixed martial arts news website, MMAWeekly.com.

He moved back to Utah with his family in 1982, and was a member of the state champion cross country team in 1985-86 for Bonneville High School in Washington Terrace, Utah. He also was a region champion tennis player for Bonneville, earning the region title with partner Tom Gardner in 1987. Ryan was called to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1989, where he served in the Saint Louis Missouri Mission for two years. Ryan married Tonya in the Bountiful Utah Temple in 1998, after a four-year courtship. They had four children. Tonya remarried in 2007.

While still in college, Ryan was able to secure a job at radio station KSOS AM, where he worked behind the scenes with Los Angeles Dodger broadcasts. His first big break came when KJQN-FM became KKBE 95.5 FM in late 1992. The new owners wanted Ryan to be "Dick the Sports Guy", an obnoxious sportscaster who yelled scores into the microphone. KKBE was short-lived, and in May 1993 the station was sold the programming turned to religious country, with none of the current staff kept on.

Ryan's first big break in television occurred in 1998 when he accepted a job at KTVZ channel 21 in Bend, Oregon, where he was Sports Director. Even though some of his predecessors were quite competitive in this small market, Ryan cultivated friendships, even among competitors, and was a favorite in that market.

When the UFC was bought by new owners in 2001, they hired Bennett as part of their broadcasting team, hoping to improve the professional quality of their production. Bennett's first event as part of the UFC broadcasting team was UFC 33 -Victory in Vegas on September 28, 2001, which was considered to be a crucially important event for the UFC's new owners, being both their first event in the "fighting state" of Nevada (where mixed martial arts had only recently achieved formal recognition and licensing by the state athletic commission), and their first event back on mass-market pay-per-view. Bennett was retained as part of the UFC broadcasting team, primarily as a post-fight interviewer, until UFC 40 - Vendetta on November 22, 2002.

Ryan Bennett died May 31, 2006, as he and his family were traveling through Utah in their Ford Expedition SUV near Fillmore, Utah. According to the Utah Highway Patrol, Bennett was traveling southbound on Interstate 15 in Fillmore around 5:15 p.m. with his wife and four children when their sport utility vehicle drifted onto the east shoulder on a slight bend in the road. The vehicle, driven by Bennett, then swerved back onto the roadway before tumbling off it again and rolling down the median five times. Bennett, though seat belted, was partially ejected from the vehicle, and died instantly.