The UFC’s head commentator Jon Anik has given his thoughts on who should land the main and co-main event spots on the much talked about UFC: White House event on June 14th.
Rather than going all in on dream match-ups it seems that Anik has kept his head screwed on and went with two fights that he believes have a realistic chance of actually happening.
“I think you probably got to do the Heavyweight Championship,” Anik told TMZ Sports when asked for his main-event pick. “We got to see Tom Aspinall versus Ciryl Gane again.”
It’s not necessarily the most glamorous pick, but it’s certainly a sensible one as it gives enough time for Aspinall to heal up from the eye injuries he suffered in their first clash back in October of last year, and due to the controversy over the eye-pokes he endured there’s an in-built back story and rivalry between them.
And of course when looking to appeal to a casual audience as well as the hardcore fans, heavyweight title fights tend to be the way to go.
Meanwhile, Anik is also keeping his feet on the ground with his selection for the co-main event spot.
“I think you go Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title,” Anik said.
Yan made it look surprisingly easy last month in their headlining rematch when he ended Dvalishvili’s long-standing title reign at 135lbs by unanimous decision, and a trilogy fight is certainly possible.
Anik also added that he’s aware that fans really want to see Jon Jones fight Alex Pereira on the card, but feels less confident that will actually happen.
However, he is keeping his fingers crossed that the line-up will include numerous title fights.
“I am hopeful that we get four or five undisputed titles on the White House lawn June 14th, and hopefully God hears those words. We’ll see.”
Meanwhile, in a separate interview Anik gave his thoughts on what he would do to improve UFC events heading into 2026, and pointed towards a strategy of quality over quantity.
Anik stated his belief that the UFC would benefit from trimming cards down from eight hours to five hours by having 10 fights instead of 15 per show, while also suggesting that they should ease up on adding so many Contender Series fighters to the roster.
