If Jon Anik could have his way, he would make a few adjustments to the current format of UFC events.
The UFC lead commentator’s changes would not only be to make his job more enjoyable, but to make the events easier to digest for fans who want to be there from the very first fight on the early prelims through the main event. As it sits, that means asking a fan to sit through seven or eight hours of programming, which is far more than any other sporting event asks of its viewers.
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“I think our biggest challenge is the fact that our events are way too long, and we should have 10 or 11 fights instead of 15,” Anik said on “Spinning Backfist MMA Show.” “Even if you want to make this broadcast five or six hours – and Hunter (Campbell), I love you – even if you wanted to make this five or six hours instead of eight, I’d be okay with it. But we ask a lot of our fans, even fans as rabid as yourselves, eight hours times 41 Saturdays, right?”
The promotion’s first event of the year, UFC 324, takes place Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There were plans for 14 fights, including two title fights at the top of the card, but that’s down one due to women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison withdrawing from her bout against Amanda Nunes due to a neck injury.
Early prelims begin at 5 p.m. ET, and the main card begins at 9 p.m. ET. If the main event between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title goes the distance, that means hardcore fans will be locked in until nearly midnight.
In Anik’s eyes, a little less could be more.
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“So if I could affect change in one way, it would be to – and we have a lot of masters to serve, right? Television partners in different countries, a lot of different things, a roster north of 600, getting 50 fighters signed on the Contender Series every year, which I think is less than ideal – but if I could affect change in one way, and perhaps it’s selfish because I’m a broadcaster that doesn’t understand how we do back-to-back Super Bowls every time we crack a mic, I would cut 150 fighters off the roster,” Anik said. “I would do 10 fights a card and just make it a much more ingestible, palatable sporting event.”
Seven days after calling UFC 324, the show continues in Sydney at UFC 325. It’s immediately from one major show to the next, which means fitting in travel, broadcast prep, and hopefully, a little bit of rest.
“Joe Silva, our Hall of Fame matchmaker, you know, he would suggest to me that I’m wound tight a little bit, and I am, and I take the job maybe too seriously, but he would always say to me, ‘Don’t forget to have fun, because this is the job you wanted. I want to see you having fun,'” Anik said. “But my job is intensive, and I think sometimes I have leaned more into the fun as I’ve gotten older and gratitude and all those things, but I think it’s so daunting that if it was five hours instead of eight, I’d be more in the fun business.”
Don’t get him wrong, Anik is very appreciative of his position and loves calling the fights, but there are times when the job gets to be overwhelming, and the start of the 2026 slate is just one example.
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“I work for the company, you know, I’m the guy who people call promotionally hyperbolic and a shill, right?” Anik said. “I’m just telling you, ike when I say to my daughter, ‘Hey, will you watch the Patriots-Texans game with me for three hours this Sunday uninterruptedly?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, Daddy I will.’ I can’t have that conversation about the UFC.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Could a little less UFC be more? Commentator Jon Anik thinks so.
