Jon Anik recently opened up about the challenge of maintaining impartiality while commentating on the fights of his close friend, Belal Muhammad.
Muhammad clinched a resounding unanimous decision victory over reigning UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards in their highly anticipated rematch last month at UFC 304 in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Ever since "Remember the Name" ascended to the UFC 170-pound championship, Anik, who typically upholds a veneer of neutrality regarding UFC fighters, has been fervently expressive on social media.
In a recent post on Instagram, Anik professed that his favorite aspect of the job is witnessing a title challenger triumph and rise to championship glory. When Muhammad achieved this milestone at UFC 304, the play-by-play commentator confessed that his bond with the Palestinian-American fighter, coupled with Muhammad's grueling path to the title, made the victory exceptionally poignant for him.
However, calling a fight involving a dear confidant presents Anik with a distinct array of professional difficulties in the commentary booth...
Anik Explains He Separates Personal Bonds When Fighters Enter The Octagon
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Anik delved into the complexities of sustaining emotional equanimity and navigating personal affiliations when commentating on fights involving athletes he knows well, particularly Muhammad.
The UFC broadcaster explained that once a fighter steps into the Octagon, he sets aside any personal relationships and strives to limit his commentary to what is necessary.
Well, they're all different. I mean, certainly, when the athlete hits the tunnel, I try to remove a lot of that from the equation," Anik said. "If you look at the way I was, 'sucking Jan Blachowicz's d*ck' when he won the title, it's not dissimilar to the way I'm celebrating Belal Muhammad now. I think people just fixate upon this because of his relationship with my twin brother. Yes, there's a lot of personal connection there.
Yes, Belal is like family, but once he hits that tunnel, that relationship is thrown out the window. This one just had a lot of interpersonal connections because of my twin brother, but I do believe I'm able to compartmentalize and throw those things out and objectively call these fights.
Anik went on to mention that if he ever makes any biased or unnecessary comments during fights, UFC executives on the production team promptly remind him of the impropriety.
You can be sure the day that I'm not able to do so, I'll get a call from Craig Borsari, my boss, or Zach Candito, one of my other bosses, or Dana White will get word to me in an indirect way. So, word hasn't come in yet. I stand by the call, as I do most of these, and I love both the athletes. Oftentimes, there's a relationship on both sides of the fight, and that was certainly the case at UFC 304.
Anik and Muhammad developed a close rapport when he signed "Remember the Name" to his podcast network in 2020. Since then, Muhammad has co-hosted Remember the Show on YouTube alongside Jason Anik, the identical twin brother of the UFC commentator.