When one door closes, another opens.

Former WEC announcer Joe Martinez was not brought into the fold following the official merging of the WEC and UFC back in 2010, but after over a year of working with other promotions, remaining respectful and crossing over to boxing, he'll be given an opportunity to fulfill his dream of cage announcing a UFC event.

Martinez broke the news to Examiner.com earlier today and if you're a huge Bruce Buffer fan, don't worry. He's not going anywhere. Here's what he had to say:

"All my respect is to Bruce; it's his gig, and I'm just more than happy to step in and fill a role for a night. The opportunity is there and I am happy to be the one they have called on for it."

The opportunity presented itself due to a schedule conflict next month (Dec. 15, 2012) as The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale will be taking place in Las Vegas while UFC on FX 6 (The TUF Smashes Finale) will be taking place the night before in Australia.

Martinez announced for the WEC for several years, becoming one of the key voices of the promotion. This actually won't be his first post-WEC work with Zuffa as he filled in for Jimmy Lennon Jr. during a similar schedule conflict to announce for a Strikeforce event last year.

Any thoughts on Martinez's Octagon debut, so to speak, Maniacs?