UFC commentator Jon Anik sure seems like a nice guy. But recently he admitted if given control of the UFC, he’d take an axe to it and cut over a hundred fighters from the roster.
No one does more research into fighters than the longtime play-by-play man and slick ad reader. That respect for the story of every fighter on the roster doesn’t mean he thinks the UFC should have as many athletes signed as they do, though.
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On a recent episode of The Spinnin Backfist MMA Show, Anik was asked about the state of the UFC’s current product and did not hold back.
“I think our biggest challenge is the fact that our events are way too long,” Anik replied. “And we should have 10 or 11 fights instead of 15. And even if you wanna 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.”
“We ask a lot of our fans, even fans as rabid as yourselves. Eight hours times forty one Saturdays, right?”
The big problem with fixing that is how the UFC has monetized every piece of that eight hour block. The main card would sell pay-per-views. The prelims would air on a broadcast partner. And the early prelims would be on UFC Fight Pass. But now the prelims and main card are both on Paramount+ … at least in the United States.
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“We have a lot of masters to serve, right?” Anik admitted. “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. I would do 10 fights a card and just make it a much more ingestible, palatable sporting event.”
There’s a lot to unpack there. Anik suggesting the UFC is booking too many Contender Series fighters? Anik admitting events going for seven to eight hours nearly every weekend is a slog for both the employees and the viewers? Anik implying the UFC roster is bloated? These are all points that have been raised by fans numerous times, but we’ve never heard out of anyone so close to the levers of power utter them.
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Does this imply change may come? We doubt it. Paramount CBS just paid $7.7 billion dollars for the UFC’s media rights, and you better believe they’ll want every minute of content they can squeeze out of that deal. But it’s nice to hear one of the most informed employees of the UFC agreeing with fan sentiment on some issues the sport has.
