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Jon Anik is sick of your s—t.

The longtime UFC play-by-play man, who took over for Mike Goldberg more than a decade ago, has been inundated with “malice and disrespect” from toxic MMA fans in the wake of the UFC 297 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last weekend at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland by way of split decision in a super close middleweight title fight that could have been scored in either direction, depending on who you ask. Some had it in favor of “Stillknocks,” while others insist “Tarzan” was the rightful winner.

“I am growing tired of this MMA space a little bit, and just the morass of negativity when there is a close fight,” Anik said on his latest podcast with Kenny Florian (transcribed by theScore). “Because even if you and I both thought Dricus Du Plessis won the fight, we try to present that information respectfully. And when I go onto X or I go to our YouTube comments, it seems like a lot of these fans are just in attack mode. And I don’t know if these fans are casual fans or not.”

Probably the same idiots who keep sending death threats to interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

“I appreciate the passion, but I’m getting to a point at 45 years of age where I don’t know how much time I have left in this MMA space,” Anik continued. “If I go do pro football, I’m not necessarily gonna be dealing with this lowest common denominator all the time. I don’t know, man. I just feel like there’s a lot of malice and disrespect from the fan base.”

Having covered a Cowboys-Eagles game, I am sad to report that Anik will, in fact, be facing an equal amount of toxicity from football fans.

“We can disagree,” Anik said. “Don’t take it from me. Demetrious Johnson and Kenny Florian thought ‘DDP’ won the fight. I’ve just been very off-put with the negativity that has permeated my feed since Saturday night, and I’m just not sure how much longer I have left in this space — honestly. Those of you suggesting that there’s any bias or you don’t like me, well, you’ll probably get your f—–g wish come 2026, because honestly, at this point, I’ve had it.”

Anik retiring from UFC will likely come as devastating news to everyone except this longtime hater.

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Kayla Harrison is now a UFC fighter, as she prepares to face former bantamweight champion Holly Holm at UFC 300 on April 13 in Las Vegas. With Harrison now in the picture, and Amanda Nunes teasing a potential comeback following UFC 297, could the stars align to put a Nunes vs. Harrison matchup together?

On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck reacts to UFC CEO Dana White’s stunning announcement from Tuesday night, what it would take to get Nunes out of retirement, and the pros and cons of the signing. Additionally, listener questions include the clip of Jon Anik expressing his frustration with the negative portion of the UFC fan base, and why he’s spot on, the current shape of UFC 300, a potential Francis Ngannou vs. Ryan Bader fight in the PFL, Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway, and much more.

You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces.

If you miss it live, audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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A growing number of toxic MMA fans on social media has UFC commentator Jon Anik questioning how much longer he has before walking away from the sport altogether.

The promotion’s return to Toronto delivered a mixed bag with a handful of entertaining finishes on the prelims followed by a lackluster main card that left fight fans unsatisfied, argumentative, or in many cases, both. In the main event of the evening, Sean Strickland surrendered his middleweight world title to South African standout Dricus Du Plessis following an entertaining back-and-forth battle over the course of five rounds.

In the end, Strickland came up short on the scorecards, losing a razor-close split decision and thus, his gold. Fans have been engaged in a heated debate over who they believe should have left The Great White North with the 185-pound crown ever since.

Anik landed on the side of Dricus Du Plessis while others, like UFC CEO Dana White, had Strickland winning the fight on their scorecards.

Anik’s opinion on the matter has resulted in him being inundated with vile comments from keyboard warriors on multiple platforms. So much so that during a recent episode of The Anik & Florian Podcast, he suggested that all the vitriol may be what pushes him into walking away from his UFC commentary duties.

“Even if you and I thought Dricus du Plessis won the fight, we try to present that information respectfully,” Anik explained. “And when I go onto X, or I go to our YouTube comments, it seems like a lot of these fans are just in attack mode, and I don’t know if these fans are casual fans or not, right?

“I appreciate the passion, but I’m getting to a point where I’m 45 years of age where I don’t know how much time I have left in this MMA space because if I go do pro-football like I’m not necessarily gonna be dealing with this lowest common denominator all the time, and I don’t know man, I just feel like there’s a lot of malice and disrespect from the fanbase.”

“We can disagree,” Anik continued. “Don’t take it from me. Demetrious Johnson and Kenny Florian thought DDP won the fight. I don’t know. I’ve just been very off-put with the negativity that has permeated my feed since Saturday and I’m just not sure how much longer I have in this space honestly.”

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The biggest UFC event of the year will take place on April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.  The historic UFC 300 fight card already has 10 fights but the main event hasn’t been revealed.  

In an Instagram live video, UFC President Dana White teased the headliner saying it ‘is going to be crazy.’  

“I just gave you guys a 300 fight. When will you get the main event? You guys can’t even handle the main event. We’re working on a couple of different options. Trust me, the UFC 300 main event is going to be crazy,” White said.

“We have a couple options for the main event. I’m still playing with it, I’m still playing with it. When it’s time, I will give it to you.”

Dana White says on his Instagram LIVE 📸 tonight that there is no #UFC300 main event fight made yet and they are still “playing with a couple options”‼️ pic.twitter.com/BwWnUODWAB

— MMA Casuals (@MMA_CASUALS_) January 25, 2024

UFC 300 already features a women’s strawweight title bout between champion Weili Zhang and Yan Xiaonan.  The ‘BMF’ belt will be on the line with a match between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway.  The fight card also contains the promotional debut of Kayla Harrison taking on former bantamweight champion Holly Holm and features a lightweight title eliminator match between former titleholder Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan.  

There are options for the main event, but with the clock ticking down an announcement will come sooner rather than later.  

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Kayla Harrison will have to shed a lot of weight before she makes her octagon debut at UFC 300 but Dana White isn’t sweating it.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo and two-time PFL champion signed with the UFC in free agency and she’ll make her first appearance in a fight against Holly Holm on April 13. Harrison inked a deal with the UFC to compete at bantamweight — a division she’s never fought at previously and has stated numerous times that it would be an arduous journey if she attempted that weight cut.

Well, the UFC CEO has no real concerns, especially after revealing during an Instagram Live session that Harrison has already undergone several test cuts and UFC 300 won’t be the first time she’s actually made the bantamweight limit.

“She’s already made 135 a couple of times,” White said late Wednesday night.

Harrison previously told MMA Fighting that she kept the door open to a potential fight at bantamweight but acknowledged it wouldn’t be easy.

“I mean 135 will challenge me in ways like I’m going to have to lose a piece of me to be able to fight at 135 pounds,” Harrison said this past November. “I think just structurally, I carry a lot of muscle. I’m already kind of lean, so I’m going to have to lose muscle. I’m going to have to change my entire lifestyle. I mean I have already done that to fight at 145.

“It’s crazy what happens when you take care of your body and eat properly and sleep and recover. I was a knucklehead when I was younger. But I have faith whatever is meant to be, will be.”

If Harrison wanted to fight in the UFC, moving to 135 pounds was really her only option.

The promotion effectively shuttered the women’s featherweight division after Amanda Nunes announced her retirement this past June and relinquished the 145-pound title. The weight class really didn’t exist in the UFC outside of a couple of fights here or there to continue feeding contenders to Nunes.

Once she retired, the UFC just shut the door on promoting those fights.

Harrison has actually only fought at featherweight once in her career — a brief one-fight stint with Invicta FC during the global pandemic — but outside of that she’s spent the majority of her fights at 155 pounds. Harrison actually won both of her gold medals in the Olympics at 78 kilograms, which translates to just under 172 pounds.

Now she’ll make the cut all the way down to 135 pounds for her debut as she clashes with a former champion in Holm in a marquee matchup on the historic UFC 300 card in April.

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Dricus du Plessis is the brand new UFC middleweight champion after defeating Sean Strickland via split decision in a fascinating 25-minute battle in the main event of UFC 297. The bout has led to a lot of questions about the future of the division, if du Plessis will share the octagon with rival Israel Adesanya next, and where Strickland goes after his title reign came to an end.

On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout of Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner, if we should expect du Plessis vs. Adesanya at UFC 300, and what could be next for Strickland with his star power continuously rising. Additionally, they’ll discuss Raquel Pennington’s title win in the co-main event, the overall grade for UFC 297, Kayla Harrison signing with the UFC to face Holly Holm at UFC 300, where the excitement levels are now that more fights have been announced for the April event, and more.

Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and José Youngs.

Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

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