Joe Rogan and regular pay-per-view broadcast team set to call UFC 288 from New Jersey
It will be a regular crew for the broadcast team at UFC 288 as the promotion returns to New Jersey on May 6 with a card headlined by bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling defending his title against Henry Cejudo.
Play-by-play man Jon Anik calls the fights alongside Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier on pay-per-view with the main card kicking off at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ pay-per-view. Megan Olivi serves as the in-house reporter for the card.
UFC officials confirmed the broadcast team to MMA Fighting on Thursday.
Saturday’s show is the first event for the promotion in New Jersey in nearly four years after Colby Covington headlined a UFC Fight Night card against Robbie Lawler back in 2019. The card takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
New Jersey served as a regular east coast home for the UFC for numerous pay-per-view events but less cards have ended up there in recent years after New York finally sanctioned MMA back in 2016.
The card from Newark features Cejudo making his return from retirement as he seeks to win back the belt he relinquished back in 2020 when he called it a career following a win over Dominick Cruz.
Meanwhile, Sterling seeks the third defense of his 135-pound title after earning previous wins over Petr Yan and T.J. Dillashaw.
The co-main event sees Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad clash in a five-round fight after both welterweights accepted the matchup on short notice. Originally, ex-UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira was scheduled to face Beneil Dariush in a potential No. 1 contender’s fight but the Brazilian suffered a rib injury that prevented him from competing in May.
Now Burns and Muhammad face off with the winner potentially getting in line for a title shot of their own.