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Jon Anik has been calling the action Octagon side for a ton of UFC events for over a decade now and the negativity of some UFC fans is starting to get to him.
One thing Anik has admitted to is that a lot of the negativity from the UFC fan base is making the sport of MMA worse.
“I try to be that accessible conduit for the fans,” Anik said on the Anik & Florian Podcast (transcript via Nolan King of MMA Junkie). “What I’m finding is that 90 percent of what I am sifting through is negative. A lot of those comments are said in an antagonistic, attacking-type of way. I’ve got three kids and just better things to do with my time, but again, I’m trying to be accessible. Especially after a fight like this, I want to be able to engage. But when I see the venom that some of the people are coming at us with, it just makes me disengage. I guess maybe my thesis statement should be if you see me disengage and not be as omnipresent or accessible on X, it’s because the fanbase is starting to turn me off. … This sport is getting worse by the minute in terms of all the negativity.”
Anik, besides calling the action for a plethora of UFC events over the years, also hosts a podcast alongside former UFC fighter Kenny Florian.
The longtime commentator admits that fan negativity may be a reason why he may find himself exiting the MMA world one day.
“I am growing tired of this MMA space a little bit and just the morass of negativity when there is a close fight,” Anik said. “Because even if you and I both thought Dricus Du Plessis won the fight, we try to present that information respectfully. When I go onto X or I go to our YouTube comments, it just seems like a lot of these fans are just in attack mode. I don’t know if these fans are casual fans or not, but I appreciate the passion. But I’m getting to the point at 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, I’m not going to necessarily be dealing with this lowest common denominator all the time. I don’t know, man. I just feel like there’s a lot of malice and disrespect from the fanbase. We can disagree. Don’t take it from me. Demetrious Johnson and Kenny Florian thought DDP won the fight. I don’t know. I’ve just been very off-put with the negativity that has permeated my feed since Saturday night. I’m just not sure how much longer I have in this space.”
Update: Jon Anik has since apologized to the fans for what he said above on Instagram:
