Molly Qerim is officially headed back to the airwaves.
The former ESPN host Qerim is set to serve as the host for Zuffa Boxing, Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported this week. Zuffa Boxing, a promotion company that was co-founded by UFC CEO Dana White this past summer, will be having their first event (under a new partnership with Paramount Skydance) on Friday at the META Apex in Las Vegas, Nev.
Qerim is slated to host the desk for the event along with Antonio Tarver, Mike Coppinger, and Mark Kriegel. Additionally, Qerim will be reunited on the Zuffa Boxing broadcast with her ex-ESPN colleague Max Kellerman, who is part of the announcing team with Joe Tessitore and Andre Ward.
The 41-year-old Qerim began at ESPN back in 2006 and eventually became something of a household name thanks to her role as the host and moderator of the popular TV show “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith. Qerim became a permanent fixture on “First Take” in 2015 and also did more specialized coverage for ESPN in areas such as the Super Bowl and the NBA and MLB All-Star Games.
But Qerim abruptly decided to resign from ESPN last September (with an interesting theory having since emerged as to why Qerim chose to quit). Weeks after Qerim’s departure, ESPN moved to name a different female anchor as the new full-time host of “First Take.”
We heard at one point that Qerim supposedly had a multi-million-dollar offer on the table from an ESPN rival. But she will be starting small with Zuffa Boxing as she gets back into the game after leaving The Worldwide Leader.
