Jon Anik details challenges preparing UFC 259’s historic 15-fight lineup
Jon Anik is about as professional as it gets when it comes to sports broadcasters. However, even he admits UFC 259 on Saturday is something of an overwhelming task.
Anik, the UFC’s lead play-by-play voice, will command the commentary booth through a record event. UFC 259 marks just the third time in company history with 15 fights on the lineup, but this one greatly differs from UFC 2 in March 1994 and UFC on ESPN 14 in July 2020.
UFC 259 touts three five-round championship fights on its billing, which makes it an unprecedented broadcast that could last well over eight hours depending on how many fights end by stoppage opposed to going to the scorecards.
Anik is shooting for a high-level performance, as always, but admits the scenario is made even more difficult by a lack of run-up time. Anik also just had to call an event this past weekend, too, which means a “condensed” window to dig into this event.
“The biggest challenge for me from a play-by-play standpoint is that I just was here and did nine fights last week,” Anik told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Friday. “But 30 fighters, I’m probably going to miss something. … As Brian Stann, my longtime (former) broadcast partner would always say, ‘It’s an open-book test. You might as well show up with some damn notes.’ So I have more notes than I know what to do with now. I’ll wake up (Saturday) and look at my cards and see who I’m light on and maybe do a little bit of last-minute preparation.”
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Anik said one of the major challenges calling an event that has a good shot to set a single-event record for total fight time is that he needs to make sure he doesn’t empty his gas tank early in the show.
Although there are some strong fights from the prelims and on the main card, the most attention will be paid to the night’s title-fight triple-header of Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya, Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson and Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling.
It’s important for Anik to reserve his best stuff for the biggest fights to a degree, but he said he also must give other fights the necessary enthusiasm when warranted.
“I do try to monitor the energy a little bit early on, and I often find there may be fights where I’m asked to do a little bit more,” Anik said. “I try to feel out my analysts and I feel like if their energy starts to sway, I’ve got to be there to pick them up. Nothing can commission you for this exercise on play-by-play than actually going through it.”
As MMA Junkie first reported this week, Anik will call UFC 259 alongside color commentators Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan.
UFC 259 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view (10 p.m. ET) following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
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