Jon Anik hears you, fight fans.
Ahead of UFC 324 next Saturday, Anik sat down with the Spinnin Backfist MMA Show to talk about the upcoming event, dive into the intricacies of his broadcasting work, and
discuss where the business is headed. Anik admitted that if there was one thing he could change about the UFC’s current operations, it’s the grueling schedule put upon fighters, fans, and staff.
He went as far as to propose some bold changes to how the UFC structures its cards.
“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. “Even if you want to make this broadcast five or six hours instead of eight, I’d be OK with it, but we ask a lot of our fans, eight hours times 41 Saturdays.
“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, you’ve got 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.”
Following the end of its ESPN partnership, the UFC signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion dollar deal with Paramount to broadcast events live on the company’s Paramount+ streaming service. UFC 324 marks the official start of that partnership and is currently scheduled for 13 fights (it was originally 14 before a bout between bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes was removed from the card due to Harrison undergoing neck surgery). There has been no indication that the UFC plans a significant change to the amount of fights per event anytime soon.
Anik has often reminded himself to enjoy his work, but there definitely ways to make it easier to keep that mindset.
“My job is intensive,” Anik said. “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.”
Anik added that there are other tweaks he’d like to see considered under the Paramount deal, including more live hits as opposed to overuse of pre-taped segments.
“I’m also excited to see what this Paramount+ deal is going to hold,” Anik said. “I’d imagine structurally most of the show is going to stay the same, but when I took over for ‘Goldie’ [Mike Goldberg] in 2017 or whenever it was, and I saw how much stuff was put on tape, I said, ‘Can we do that live?’ Like, the locker room stuff. I still have to put the billboards on tape like, ‘UFC 324 is brought to you by…’ but if it was up to me—I know they’re trying to save my voice at times—but there were times in the past when you’d see two fighters in the locker room, they would lay that to tape beforehand. I’m like, ‘What if he’s picking his nose?’ I want to do this all live as much as possible.”
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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Gregory Rodrigues (18-6) vs. Brunno Ferreira (15-2); UFC 326, March 7
Josh Emmett (19-6) vs. Kevin Vallejos (17-1); UFC Vegas 114, March 14
Michael Chiesa (19-7) vs. Carlston Harris (19-7); UFC Seattle, March 28
FINAL THOUGHTS
I can’t be the only one who’s with Anik on this one. I’ve long campaigned for cards to be planned for 12 fights tops, with the understanding that a handful could fall through in the lead-up to the event for various reasons. But let’s say, worst-case scenario, you end up with eight fights, four prelims, and four main card. Is that so bad?
I’d also like to see more five-round fights booked (with the athletes compensated accordingly, of course) and with that more four-fight main cards, especially for APEX events. There’s no reason, other than advertising considerations, that MMA events need to be endurance tests.
And yes, unfortunately, I also agree with Anik that this would lead to a trimming of the roster. But when you look at how the promotion has churned through fighters over the past few years, most people probably wouldn’t even notice a difference.
Anyway, don’t get your hopes up, because the UFC has $7.7 billion reasons as to why they can just stay the course. — Lee
EXIT POLL
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