Megan Olivi is an American mixed martial arts news/events reporter who hosts UFC Ultimate Insider on Fox Sports 1.
Megan Olivi | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 29, 1986[citation needed] |
| Education | Seton Hall University Fordham University |
| Occupation(s) | Sports television personality Sideline reporter |
| Notable credit | UFC Ultimate Insider |
| Spouse | |
Early life
editMegan Olivi is the youngest of three children[citation needed] and was born in New Jersey. She spent the majority of her youth growing up in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.[1] She is of Italian descent.[citation needed]
Olivi played softball in school and wanted to pursue a career in gymnastics but was not able to due to her family's financial situation.[2]
College years
editOlivi attended Seton Hall University where she earned a degree in political science as her undergraduate major. While attending Seton Hall, she interned with Fox News.[3] Olivi then earned a master's degree in broadcast journalism at Fordham University.[1]
Journalism career
editShortly after completing her master's degree, Olivi was offered an opportunity to cover the sport of Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada and decided to move cross-country and take a chance on this career opportunity. After taking this new job, Olivi fell in love with the sport of Mixed Martial Arts while also continuing to polish her on-camera skills,[1] most notably co-hosting the live Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Preshow Fight Day. Olivi then went on to work for Fox Sports covering UFC events and hosting lifestyle segments for FoxSports.com.[4]
In February 2013, Olivi accepted a role as a correspondent for Fox 6 News San Diego covering the San Diego Padres as a Social Media Reporter while also hosting and producing a weekly magazine show called “Padres POV”. Olivi soon moved on from her career with the Padres and returned to Las Vegas to pursue a reporting opportunity with the UFC where she currently travels the world covering UFC events.[4]
Olivi hosts UFC Ultimate Insider on Fox Sports 1. She has a series on UFC Fight Pass, The Exchange With Megan Olivi.[1]
Olivi has worked as a sideline reporter for the NFL coverage on Fox since the 2021 season. She has teamed with color analyst announcers Aqib Talib and LaVar Arrington, as well as play-by-play announcers Gus Johnson, Joe Davis, Brandon Gaudin, and Jason Benetti.[citation needed]
2017 Miss Universe pageant
editOlivi was both a preliminary and final telecast judge at the 2017 Miss Universe pageant.[5]
Personal life
editOlivi is married to former UFC flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Kyte, E. Spencer (September 5, 2016). "UFC's Megan Olivi talks career journey, bad jobs and future plans". The Province. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
- ^ Karim, Saiyed Adeem (2020-12-23). "Megan Olivi shares how family's poor finances stopped her gymnast dream". Media Referee. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-olivi-a0402413/ [self-published source]
- ^ a b Palmquist, Chris (2015-09-23). "Megan Olivi Q&A review: 'I was born preparing for this job'". Mixedmartialarts.com. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
- ^ "Miss Universe Events". Miss Universe.
- ^ Hannoun, Farah; Morgan, John (October 15, 2020). "Megan Olivi won't watch 'UFC Fight Island: Declassified' but knows 'it provided something good' for others". MMA Junkie. Retrieved December 24, 2020.