Former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje competed in the co-main event of UFC 286, while teammate Kamaru Usman lost in the main event of the card to Leon Edwards.
Gaethje heard Michael Bisping's commentary for the pay-per-view broadcast of the main event between Edwards and Usman, but Gaethje believes that Bisping showed bias in his commentary.
“I thought (Usman) won the fight,” Gaethje told reporters at his UFC 286 post-fight news conference (transcript via Danny Segura & Abbey Subhan of MMA Junkie). “But I’m probably as biased as the judges. (I’m) certainly not as biased as Michael Bisping. He shouldn’t have been (anywhere) near a microphone during that fight. Yeah, it sucks. It’s not my call. I just thought it was very unprofessional (from Bisping).”
Jon Anik, who was calling the action alongside Bisping at UFC 286, came to his co-workers defense via Twitter:
While broadcasting Edwards-Usman 3 live, certainly felt as though Leon Edwards landed the more consequential shots and felt he won the fight. Upon watching it back, my scorecard reads 47-47. Outstanding championship fight. I'll never judge. Respect to the athletes on a classic!
— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) March 20, 2023
1) Must say in defense of my broadcast partner @bisping, the man has zero agenda nor any bias when calling fights. Might even have closer personal relationship w/ Kamaru Usman than he does Leon Edwards. He just felt as though Edwards controlled the stand-up, landed more cleanly.
— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) March 20, 2023
2) The job of MMA commentator is not as hard as that of fighter, judge, or referee, but it's hard. We are judged on every utterance over 8+ hours and certainly there are things we'd love to take back. Someone is usually upset w/ something. Never had a perfect show. Never will.
— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) March 20, 2023
There has been no comment from Bisping as of this writing.