How Boston Sports Shaped Jon Anik’s UFC Broadcast Career

Jon Anik returns to Boston this weekend to broadcast UFC 292 in the combat sports company’s latest event at TD Garden.

As the 45-year-old prepares for another championship fight card, he does so in a city that he once called home and shaped his passions.

“I grew up like a lot of kids in Boston. wanting to be on the radio and share my opinions on the sports we were so passionate about,” Anik told NESN.com in an interview on Tuesday.

The broadcaster originally figured he would call different games rather than diving into the combat sports realm.

“I certainly think the stick-and-ball sports, even to this day, would be more in my wheelhouse,” Anik said. “At least in terms of calling those events, American football would me the most comfortable for me to call.”

Instead, Anik did live out his original intentions to share his opinions on the radio, with a boxing show on 1510 The Zone in Boston in his introduction to combat sports.

“That sort of gave me the itch for combat sports,” Anik said. “Eventually, our boxing show covered some mixed martial arts events. That opened my eyes even further.”

Anik further believes that the right timing of opportunities greatly benefited his career, from hosting MMA shows at ESPN to working his way up and taking over as the lead voice of UFC broadcasts.

“It was a lot of right place, right time in there,” Anik reflected. “It hasn’t necessarily played out the way I thought it would at the outset. I’m not sure I would change a thing, honestly.”

The broadcaster will be on the call on Saturday night in the same building where he once sat in the upper levels watching basketball as a passionate Boston sports fan.

“I’m excited,” Anik said. “For me, as a former Celtics season ticket holder and someone who sat in the nosebleeds for the 2002-2003 season, to be able to be on the Garden floor and watch the UFC take over this building is pretty cool for a kid from the 508.”

Anik also broadcasted another pay-per-view event in Boston in 2018 with a loaded UFC 220 card that featured moments of his passions colliding back in Beantown.

“I remember Khabib Nurmagomedov was there because Islam (Makhachev) was there fighting,” Anik shared. “Khabib was holding up an authentic Larry Bird jersey in one of the fighter meetings. I felt like it was the greatest visual I had ever seen.”

The UFC 220 card itself featured championship bouts and the rise of young talent that delivered an entertaining product.

“These events are just enormous,” Anik said. “I’m just excited that Dana White held out to bring a big card to Boston. Hopefully, we can overdeliver and deliver even more so than we did five years ago.”

As UFC 292 commences at TD Garden, the path back to Boston has been a rewarding journey for the Massachusetts native, even if it’s broadcasting knockouts and submissions rather than home runs and strikeouts at Fenway Park on a Red Sox call.

“That was probably the dream at one point,” Anik recalled.