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Jon Anik leaving ESPN to join UFC, will be the play-by-play guy for all FX fights
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- theMMAmessiah
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To say I didn't see this coming is an understatement. Anik must know that ESPN isn't serious about MMA and got tired of coming on at 230 in the morning. I don't know how many of you go to his chats but this is obviously why he didn't do one yesterday. I think Anik is actually fairly ignorant when it comes to MMA, but he is passionate and I enjoyed his Bellator calls. Definitely a huge change, what do tapologists think about this? Are you OK with Anik doing the FX shows? And what does this mean for Rogan and Goldie on these cards?
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- theMMAmessiah
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The best part of this deal? Perhaps now Franklin "I don't know dog**** about MMA" McNeil is out of a job.
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- Swickotine
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I've always enjoyed him on MMA Live and I think he'll be pretty good for FX. I wonder who will be color, maybe Ken-Flo or Bonnar.
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- minotauro11
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Bummer. I'm not a fan of Anik's. He's ok, but he clearly doesn't know a lot about MMA and if this means Rogan (who is extremely educated when it comes to grappling and striking) isn't commentating the FX shows, this is a bummer.
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- theMMAmessiah
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@swick .... you couldn't just have those 2 call a card, none of them are animated enough, it would have a very boring feel I think.
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- theMMAmessiah
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@Mino I couldn't agree with you even a tiny bit more. I knew with that % you couldn't be allllll bad.
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- thiagosilva9794
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Hopefully they pair Anik up with someone like Rogan or Mir.. He's kinda a commentator like Goldberg.. Isn't the most educated but entertaining to listen to.
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- skelliher
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I'm a big fan of Anik, and while he may not know too much about the sport since he has no competition background in it, I think his commentating abilities are right up there with Jimmy Smith (who may be the best commentator around). I've also met him in person at a Bellator event 2 years ago and sat next to him the whole show and he's a really cool guy who's definitely not faking his passion for the sport. I've also interview him for the old Tapology Blog a few times.
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- minotauro11
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@mmamessiah, I'm glad we can agree on something!
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- mulefloyd
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Wonder what happens to MMALive?
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- bklettke
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I'm not sure how to take Anik doing color on FX, but i try to put it in retrospect like this:
The UFC is doing a big push and 1hr block for one fight mainly to educate the casual or non-existing MMA fan.... in other words, someone who doesn't know much about MMA. For that Anik is probably the perfect person, being he's not nearly as skilled as a guy like Joe Rogan in striking/grappling, he can connect to the casual fan with his words better than Rogan can.
My theory is they are using this to draw in more fans rathan than someone hearing Joe Rogan talk about mission control/rubber guard or other BJJ techniques and changing the channel because they think he's making some **** up while he's high behind the mic!
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- SoccerKick
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I really like Anik and I'm sure now he'll be able to educate himself a lot more while working for the UFC then he had the time to do so while with ESPN...It'll be interesting to see who calls the fights with him, but I usually watch the events for the fights and not really who is commentating
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- theMMAmessiah
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@mule ... ESPN had been squeezing MMA live out of the picture lately anyway. 2:30 air times that get pushed back almost every week, then they didn't even do an episode a cpl weeks ago. I'm sure it gets cancelled, which sucks really bad, as big as the FOX deal is for MMA, ESPN holds ALL the cards as to whether it becomes a mainstream sport or not, ppl who deny this are severely shortsided. ESPN CONTROLS sports, that's all there is to it.
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- SoccerKick
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So @MMAmessiah what you're saying is that Disney controls sports?
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- theMMAmessiah
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I guess so. Short of every single UFC card being on Primetime TV, the only way new fans are coming to the sport is if the events and the fighters start to get regular coverage on ESPN. I know a lot of MMA fans aren't sport fans so they don't watch that channel and can't grasp the stronghold they have over everything. It sucks but it's how it is.
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- CashBrewyn
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I never watch that ESPN show anyway so I don't know much about this guy, but it was obvious they were going to have to expand their broadcast crew
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- Live2wrestle
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Are they afraid of what Rogan might say on national TV or something? I see no reason to replace Goldy and Rogan.
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- thiagosilva9794
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@Live2wrestle.. I am guessing it's because there's gonna be too many shows.
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- skelliher
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@Live2wrestle: They're not replacing Rogan and Goldberg, and I would guess those two are going to be the commentators for the UFC on FOX cards. Anik is going to be the play-by-play commentator for the live Ultimate Fighter fights on FX beginning in 2012. That's way too many cards for Rogan and Goldberg to be doing in addition to UFC fight nights and PPVs.
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- jersey0525
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jon anik will get fight nights, tuf live fights, and tuf finales so joe and mike can focus on ppv and fox
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- MikeLovesTacos XD
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I dont think Anik will disappoint.