Amid claims from long-time UFC play-by-play lead, Jon Anik that he may call time on his tenure as the promotion’s head commentator amid the influx of “malic” and rhetoric from a section of the mixed martial arts community, former middleweight champion, Sean Strickland has urged him to do just that.
Anik, a long-time play-by-play commentator for the promotion, who assumed lead role with the UFC following the departure of former lead, Mike Goldberg at the end of 2016, called the action in Strickland’s title fight loss to newly-minted gold holder, Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 earlier this month.
And sharing his thoughts on the recent influx of negativity and rhetoric spouting fans into the sport amid Strickland’s title fight loss to du Plessis, Anik claimed he was weighing up the prospect of exiting the promotion as a play-by-play commentator in the near future.
“Even if you and I [Kenny Florian] thought Dricus du Plessis won the fight, we try to present that information respectfully,” Jon Anik said. “And when I go onto X, or I go to our YouTube comments, it seems like a lot of these fans are just in attack mode, and I don’t know if these fans are casual fans or not, right?
“I appreciate the passion, but I’m getting to a point where I’m 45 years of age where I don’t know how much time I have left in this MMA space because if I go do pro-football like I’m not necessarily gonna be dealing with this lowest common denominator all the time, and I don’t know man, I just feel like there’s a lot of malice and disrespect from the fanbase,” Jon Anik explained.
Sean Strickland urges Jon Anik to retire from UFC commentary
And sharing his thoughts on Anik’s comments following his title fight defeat to Pretoria native, du Plessis – Strickland claimed the former should just go and commentate for the NFL, before backing his fans.
“What I’d say to Jon Anik calling MMA fans, ‘the lowest common denominator,” Sean Strickland posted on his official X account. “These people are way (sic) you have a paycheck, and you make way more than most. …Maybe the NFL is a better choice for you than MMA. …Also, you guys are a brunch of savage c*nts. I’m here for it….”
What are your thoughts on Sean Strickland’s comments on Jon Anik?