Jon Anik reveals Joe Rogan’s first reaction to Sphere, wants ‘one more shot’ after UFC 306
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Jon Anik got a sneak peek of Sphere before UFC 306, and knew that his broadcast partners were going in cold — which made it all that more special for the longtime lead commentator.
“So all week, I was sort of marinating in the fact that Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier, and my twin brother [Jason], and all of these people weren’t going to have seen any of this until they walked in there on Saturday night,” Anik said on Between the Links. “And given all that my Saturday holds, I’m thankful that I was privy to some of this because spectacular doesn’t even begin to describe it. A broadcasting experience of a lifetime for me.
“And it sounds ungrateful to say, ‘Please give us another shot in there,’ but that’s all, I think, a lot of us kept feeling. It was just so amazing. I mean, Diego Lopes putting his hands in the air — my brother captured it — if there’s a coliseum behind him. Bro, it was absolutely unbelievable, start to finish, and I do think 10 fights is the right way to do it. I’d be fascinated to see how the UFC, and how our live production team would approach a second chance in there when it comes to fight card, and thematically what you would do, whether it was a celebration of the UFC, or as Daniel Cormier would like, the Stars and Stripes, but just incredible. Just incredible.
“I think a lot of people are suggestive with this sort of merging of sports, art, and entertainment, that with venues in the future, there’s a lot of things that could happen from here in terms of venue construction and everything. But to be a part of it, very special, and just give us another shot. Just one more shot.”
Rogan returned for his first event since June’s UFC 303 card for the Noche UFC themed event, capped off by Merab Dvalishvili’s bantamweight title win against Sean O’Malley. Anik says his good friend, color commentator, and host of one of the biggest podcasts on the planet — like everyone else — was absolutely stunned by what he saw at Sphere.
“So he’s seen it all, he’s a renaissance man, far more that than me,” Anik said about Rogan. “I still felt convicted in the fact that he would be effectively blown away, and yeah, just jaw-dropped, and ‘Oh my gosh,’ and sort of one visual upstages the one that came before it.
“We went all the way up to the 400 section — as high as you can go — which [are] some of the best seats to do our pay-per-view open, and I actually didn’t quite get down in time. So we had a little bit of lead navigation in terms of our throw to the next piece, but it was insane to see [Rogan and Cormier’s] reactions for the first time and you think you know what you’re walking into, but you really don’t.”
UFC 306 came with several interesting fights and storylines, but there were naysayers having issues with the overall card quality for an event that was hyped up as much as this was.
While everything was unforgettable and a landmark telecast for the history of sports, Anik wants one more chance at being the lead voice for another event, something resembling the depth of the upcoming October pay-per-view cards.
“When you look at the fight cards for UFC 307 and UFC 308 on paper, Jose Aldo’s fighting on the prelims in Salt Lake City, UFC 308 — I don’t say this hyperbolically — maybe the best fight card I’ve ever been assigned,” Anik explained. “Go to Wikipedia and look up UFC 308. So just imagine, for a second, UFC 307 or UFC 308, on paper, Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker, at Sphere f*cking Vegas, and tell me we couldn’t effectively change the game forever.
“This was an amazing experience, I just think we need one more shot.”
