To this day, there are hardcore fans on both sides of the fence who adamantly deny that mixed martial arts and pro wrestling share traits.

You’d think the fact there’s been a crossover between this sport and sports entertainment dating back at least to Ken Shamrock – or all the way to “Judo” Gene Le Bell, depending on how you want to define things – would get the people to admit there are more similarities between the two, but we’re not quite there yet, despite plenty of evidence.

Ronda Rousey succeeded fabulously in WWE. Brock Lesnar won the UFC title. CM Punk … ehh, I guess you can’t win ’em all. But you get the point.

Anyway, the crossover now extends to the announce crew. The Professional Fighters League announced Monday that longtime WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia will be the in-cage announcer on their fights going forward.

What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, Garcia was in the center of the action on national television for years and years, including the peak of the flagship “Monday Night Raw” show, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when millions of viewers tuned in for live wrestling every week.

She’s also a talented singer and has sung the national anthem before games in the four major North American team sports, U.S. Open tennis and the Summer Olympic Games.

So no, this isn’t quite the same as if a star fighter signed, but it’s a name familiar to many people – as of this writing, she has 668,000 Twitter followers – and that in and of itself is a positive for a brand which has already delivered an exciting and interesting product in the cage, but is still trying to find it’s footing in a crowded marketplace.

“I’m looking forward to stepping in the cage and getting back to introducing fighters to the masses, something I truly love and have missed,” Garcia said. “What I find most intriguing about the PFL is that every fight matters. Each fighter enters the cage knowing they are competing for a shot at a title and million-dollar prize. There is so much drama surrounding that moment, and I’m honored to help bring it to life for fans in the arena and watching at home.”

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.