Megan Olivi has taken multiple different approaches to fight nights for her husband Joseph Benavidez. When he competes at UFC 259 on Saturday, she’s set to work the broadcast.
Longtime UFC reporter and correspondent Olivi is married to UFC flyweight contender Benavidez (28-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC), who is set to meet Askar Askarov (12-0-1 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC) in the prelims of the card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. His fight airs on ESPN prior to the main card on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
Olivi will be the roving reporter for UFC 259, which means she’s appear on the broadcast providing real-time updates, conducting post-fight interviews and more. She’ll be hard as work when Benavidez steps in the octagon, and she said she thinks that’s the best situation for her.
“I work pay-per-views and he fights on pay-per-views, so we both work,” Olivi told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Friday. “I think a lot of people don’t like that I do. Other wives and stuff, they’re like, ‘How do you do that?’ But actually it keeps me occupied. I do enjoy working when Joe fights because I have something else to focus on. I’m actually way calmer for this fight than I would be if I wasn’t (working) and that’s all I had to think about. But I’m doing scripts and fight prep and studying and watching all different fights that it helps me handle the entire process. It doesn’t get easier for me (if I’m not working) – it gets a lot harder. Every fight is more stress and crazier emotions for me, so it’s a good distraction.”
Olivi doesn’t pretend like the situation is an easy one to cope with, though. She’s seen Benavidez experience some glorious highs and heartbreaking lows during his career. She’ll do her role as a professional on-camera, but deep down he admits it’s a tough situation.
“It’s the person you love the most in the world, who you have watched sacrifice for months and do everything that can for this 15- or 25-minute period to go their way, and there’s nothing you can do to help,” Olivi said. “It is the most helpless feeling ever, and Joe is the person I love the most in the world. He’s the most important thing in my life, and to not have any control over the outcome and know how hard he has worked and all the sacrifices that have been made, it’s emotionally the most difficult thing I’ve had to do as a wife, and in life one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do.”
Megan Olivi: Working UFC 259 broadcast ‘a good distraction’ from husband Joseph Benavidez’s fight
