When Jon Anik left ESPN to call UFC fights, he didn’t take the job for its security.

Seven years in, he can be fired at any time, without cause.

Anik is widely recognized as one of the UFC’s top broadcast talents, so there’s not much of a chance the promotion would suddenly get cold feet. Still, he never forgets the thin line he walks.

“I think that it aids performance,” Anik told MMAjunkie. “I treat every show like it could be my last.”

And also a step toward a goal.

Anik’s ambitions aren’t as obvious as other personalities around MMA, but they’re definitely close to the surface. When he signed on in 2011 for play-by-play duties, nothing less than the No. 1 spot was of interest.

“I wasn’t going to be content to be (Mike Goldberg’s) backup forever,” Anik said.

Today, Anik’s dream is to call an NFL game on FOX, the UFC’s longtime broadcast partner.

“If I go to my cremation chamber having never done that, I will be disappointed,” Anik said.

The original goal is nailed. Anik has replaced Mike Goldberg as the most consistent play-by-play presence beside the octagon.

As for that NFL gig, FOX brass may need a few more years to get over Goldberg’s disastrous try at calling a game to give another MMA broadcaster a shot.

Between all the preparation for events and travel, Anik doesn’t have much time for anything other than the UFC. There are 13 fights on the upcoming UFC on FOX 29 card in Glendale, Ariz., and he needs to record voice-overs for each intro. He also needs a stack of notes to get him through each fight.

When Anik puts on the headset, he’ll be at work for seven hours straight. For college football games, it’s usually two and change.

“That was the biggest adjustment for me,” Anik said. “But as (former UFC commentator and fighter) Brian Stann always said, it’s an open-book test.”

And one where notes sometimes go out the window. Goldberg’s departure opened up the floodgates for new broadcast partners, some of whom don’t leave a lot of audio real estate for Anik’s play-by-play. When UFC light heavyweight Daniel Cormier gets going, he can lean back.

Then there are commentators like Jimmy Smith, who gives him a lot of time to chime in. There’s such a revolving door, to a certain extent, Anik is always working on the fly.

“They all do have their different styles, and certainly for a lot of broadcasters, it would be nice to just be with the same one or two guys every time you call fights so you can build on the chemistry,” Anik said. “I’m not going to lie to you and say that when you work with Paul Felder and then I don’t work with him again for six months, it’s not that there isn’t a challenge there. But I don’t know that I would have it any other way.”

Anik has given himself 20 years to make his mark in the UFC. So far, he’s ahead of schedule. Whether that moves forward his timeline for the next challenge, only he knows. MMA doesn’t have any less grip on his life than it did when he first started calling fights.

Recently, he went to an NBA game on an off night. He guesses he watched about two minutes of it.

“MMA has ruined a lot of other sports for me,” he said. “The NBA, MLB – it doesn’t hold the same value for me. That is an inconsequential sporting event. … Every fight feels like a Game 7.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.