Jon Anik isn’t thrilled about the idea of flying into the Middle East right now, and he didn’t dress it up. During a live Q&A on his YouTube channel, the UFC’s lead play-by-play man was asked whether the current security risks in the region would make him hesitant to work a card like the promotion’s upcoming Fight Night in Qatar.
“Great question, yes,” Anik replied. “Hesitancy? Yes.”
Then he kept talking. “I can expand on it too,” he said. “I’m hopeful for any of my colleagues that are going that it’s safe and it’s not arduous to get there and I pray for anybody in any part of the world in which there is any sort of violence. But, would I have hesitancy? Yes. Would I go? Plausibly.”
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So this is no refusal. Bloody Elbow, which reported the comments, characterized his position as hesitation that wouldn’t actually keep him from working UFC events. The outlet also noted that Anik probably wasn’t going to be calling UFC Qatar on November 21 anyway.
Why the question came up
On October 25, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh ordered all non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, citing safety risks tied to the ongoing conflict in the region. Plenty of people assumed the big combat sports dates on the regional calendar would get scrapped or moved.
They haven’t. Canelo Alvarez is back tonight, October 31, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh to challenge Christian Mbilli for the WBC super middleweight title on a “Mexico vs The World” card that’s been in the works for most of 2026. Weigh-ins went off Friday. WWE’s Crown Jewel is still on for November 7 at the ANB Arena, also in Riyadh.
The Canelo card did take a hit, though. Lindolfo Delgado’s IBF title fight with Artur Biyarslanov fell apart on short notice. There were reports that Delgado’s passport had expired, but his coach, Robert Garcia, gave a different explanation for why they didn’t make the trip. “Why would we risk ourselves going over there without being safe?” Garcia said, as covered by World Boxing News. Nobody could find Biyarslanov a replacement, so he went home to Chechnya without fighting.
What’s next for the UFC in the region
UFC Qatar is set for November 21. After that, a Fight Night is currently scheduled for December 5 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, the same building hosting Canelo tonight, and Israel Adesanya has been linked to the main event.
I’ll give Anik credit here. Broadcasters spend their whole careers sounding calm, and the easy move was a polished non-answer about trusting the promotion. He said yes twice instead, then picked “plausibly” for the follow-up, which is about as precise a word as a play-by-play guy can choose when he means maybe. Garcia already pulled a title fighter off a Riyadh card over the same worry. If Adesanya headlines on December 5, check the booth that night. Who’s sitting there will tell you more than any statement.
