Jon Anik responds to critics of his UFC 304 call of Belal Muhammad’s title win

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Jon Anik stands by his performance at UFC 304 — most notably, his call of the main event.

Anik, who called the event alongside Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping in July in Manchester, England, took some criticism for how he called the welterweight title fight between new champion Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards. The longtime play-by-play voice of the UFC is part of the Anik & Florian Podcast group of shows, which includes a program hosted by Muhammad and Anik’s twin brother Jason. Consequently, a friendship has grown from the relationship.

While some fans criticized his call of the fight, Anik went back and re-watched it — and as someone who strives for perfection on every broadcast, he was totally fine with how it sounded live.

“I have interpersonal relationships on both sides of this,” Anik told MMA Fighting. “I actually go further back with Leon than I do with Belal. Tim Simpson, [Leon’s] manager, is a good friend of mine, and historically, for me, the call that has, I think, helped my career the most was something that relates to Leon Edwards. If you listen to the Anik & Florian Podcast, our show open ends with Leon Edwards saying, ‘Head shot, dead,’ right? So there’s a lot of connective tissue and interpersonal stuff for me on both sides of all of these fights.

“But yeah, I felt like the call was down the line. ... Now, you can imagine all the different things that commentators hear from fans and fighters and coaches and bosses over the years. But I sleep well at night, I stand by that call, and I stand by Belal Muhammad as a friend. When we launched his podcast with my twin brother, four or five years ago, whatever it was, he had 18,000 Instagram followers, he was unranked. We believed in him in terms of him having a social media presence, and that he could maybe become a contender, if not championship athlete. And you know what? We bet on the right f*cking guy, and if I got married a second time, he might be a f*cking groomsman.

“So I can’t help that I have friendships that I have developed in this sport, but you can be sure I’m not as close with Belal as I am with Dominick Cruz, and once any of these guys hit the tunnel or hit the inspection zone, last thing I’m thinking about is their mothers and their brothers and the interpersonal stuff. So, it is what it is, it comes with the territory. And people who don’t want to credit this win in this historically great division by Belal Muhammad? Cry. Cry.”

Following Muhammad’s win, Anik did take a bit of a victory lap on social media, but when it comes to the broadcast itself, and when the lights are on, Anik is a consummate professional who calls fights right down the middle regardless of who is involved.

Now that the dust has settled in regards to the event, Anik revealed how he saw the matchup on paper heading into it — and it may be surprising to some.

“I didn’t like him in the fight,” Anik said. “Can I say that now? Does that sound objective? I still believe Leon Edwards is the toughest matchup for him in the welterweight division, and Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Ian Machado Garry, and Sean Brady and others are right there — [and] this was a big result for Sean Brady, who I think is a cannonball coming in his own if he can get past Gilbert ‘Durinho’ Burns — but I still think Leon is the toughest matchup for Belal. And even though promotionally, they don’t want to go in the direction of a trilogy and an immediate run-back of that title fight between Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards, I have an appetite for it, and I actually believe Leon, if not some long-reigning champion, probably deserves it.

“If Shavkat is not ready, or [Kamaru] Usman’s not ready, or another guy I’m not thinking of is not ready, I can assure you, Leon would shorten up a training camp to — as he says — try to get this back in blood.”