UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik opened up about the beef between himself and two-time title challenger Colby Covington.
Last month, Covington reemerged after a year on the sidelines, revealing himself as the official backup for the UFC 286 trilogy bout between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman. Fortunately, Covington’s services were not needed, but his role as backup left many speculating as to whether or not ‘Chaos’ would face the winner of Edwards vs. Usman III. UFC President Dana White quickly cleared that up, confirming Covington was indeed the next man in line.
Jon Anik responded to the revelation on Twitter by throwing some support behind streaking welterweight contender Belal Muhammad. A man that many believe is more than deserving of a welterweight title opportunity.
“Understand acutely why Colby Covington was the back-up but hard not to feel for @bullyb170!” Anik wrote. “9-fight unbeaten streak. Hasn’t lost in 4-plus years. Just KO’d a previously undefeated fighter. The man deserves his respect and I don’t say that b/c he hosts a podcast w/ my twin bro.”
Getting wind of Jon Anik’s comments, Covington launched a full-on temper tantrum, lobbying physical threats at the fan-favorite commentator and even bringing his kids into the conversation.
“Jon Anik, dude, I don’t want your kids to grow up without a dad. Just realize you live in Boca, I live in Miami, motherf*cker,” threatened Covington. “You’re not too far from me. So you better shut your f*cking mouth.”
Colby Covington threatens to kill Jon Anik
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— MMA Tea Talk (@MMATeaTalk) March 21, 2023
Jon Anik Has Addressed the Beef with Colby Covington Privately
Appearing on Morning Kombat with Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell, Jon Anik opened up about the incident between himself and Colby Covington, revealing that he has since addressed the issue with ‘Chaos’ privately.
“I think you can argue that he crossed the line, but I never felt particularly threatened,” Anik said. “Moreso I felt the support from Jorge Masvidal and Jamahal Hill and a lot of other athletes and I certainly appreciate that. I don’t know that you need to inject anybody’s kids into the equation and there will come a point in time on Snapchat or somewhere else where my 11-year-old daughter is going to come across that clip and there will be some explaining to do, but by and large, Colby and I are good.
“We have addressed it privately. We messaged each other. And it’s interesting because I’ve tried not to lean into it. I just leaned into it a little bit there, but ultimately there were two parts of that navigation when he said what he said,” Anik continued. “First of all, what did I say that has upset the high-profile professional athlete? I’ve got to figure that out first. Did I say something? Did I analytically go too far with my editorialization of the welterweight championship pecking order?
“So once I realized his beef is really that I gave Belal Muhammad a platform. I didn’t really say anything that sensational, then you can address what he had said and if I’m being honest, it was Colby in character for me. When I first saw the clip I thought nothing of it and then my phone got pretty noisy and I thought more of it as the day went on.”
While Jon Anik has essentially buried the hatchet with ‘Chaos’ behind closed doors, the UFC play-by-play man does still have some concern over potential Covington “cronies” that may continue to escalate things.
“I’ve been more off-put by maybe some of Colby’s cronies who are like, ‘Yeah, you don’t have to worry about him, but maybe it’s me.’ But there have been high-profile athletes that have taken issue with what I have said and I try to bury the hatchet. Either stand by what I said or apologize. There’s not a show that goes by where someone is not upset with something. It’s the world in which we live.”