After the initial call we didn’t talk for like 45 seconds, ‘cause the crowd were chanting Zombie and the pictures did so much to tell the story. And people said: ‘She’s not cut out for this.’įitzgerald: I always point to when the ‘Korean Zombie’ knocked out Renato Moicano I like those ones when you can sense the end coming and your voice kind of rises with the crowd. Like, there’s a clip of all of us reacting to Kevin Lee’s massive knockout against Gregor Gillespie, and I actually have the smallest reaction out of everybody, I just cover my mouth, and all the dudes around me are cursing and stuff. Sometimes people look at me because I’m a woman and think I have these emotional reactions. It’s just like… I know what it takes to get there, I know how much sacrifice is made, I know how much it matters. Olivi: I am always so thrilled for our winners and so heartbroken for our losers. What is going through your head when you’re calling or watching a fight? I think for me it’s a lot of old-school preparation teamed up with 21st century technology. We also meet with most of the fighters on Thursdays, and a lot of times they’ll volunteer information that maybe they wouldn’t put out publicly, so we get some great tidbits there. Sometimes they’ll post from their locker room and that can really give you insight into their mindset or things they’re drilling and then you see that play out in the fight. Also, until pretty much the time our broadcast starts and even sometimes during, I’ll be checking fighters’ social media. I have a document on all our different fighters, and I’ll continue to update it throughout the years. Even though I have seen maybe somebody’s entire UFC career, sometimes it’s hard to remember those details. She is also married to UFC flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez, so knows what goes through a fighter’s mind on fight week as well as anyone. She is the go-to go-between in the connection of fans and fighters, tasked with asking UFC’s roster members questions whether they are radiating in the glow of triumph or dwelling in the mire of defeat. Olivi, meanwhile, is a reporter and host whose face is as familiar on UFC broadcasts as Anik and Fitzgerald’s voices are. Play-by-play commentators Anik and Fitzgerald provide vital layers to the soundtrack of the in-ring action on their respective nights on the job, their contributions for the viewers at home filling the space between the noise of the crowd and the sound of shins colliding. Jon Anik, Megan Olivi and Brendan Fitzgerald wouldn’t dare to dispute that notion, but the truth is that all three of them – as part of the UFC’s wider broadcast team – are subject to a similar level of scrutiny and pressure to their colleagues on the other side of the Octagon fence. You could argue that there are just shy of 600 correct answers to that question, with the name of any fighter who steps foot in the Octagon a valid response.
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