After earning her master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Fordham University, Megan Olivi set her sights on covering MMA—and quickly made it happen. She began working with Fox Sports, co-hosting the UFC Preshow Fight Day and covering events. In 2013, after a stint as a social media reporter for Fox 6 News San Diego, she joined the UFC as a reporter and host. The rest, as they say, is history.
Six years on, the UFC signed a $1.5 billion broadcast deal with ESPN, and Olivi became a familiar sight cage-side, ESPN microphone in hand, interviewing fighters and analysts alike. Now, in 2025, with UFC President Dana White announcing that the promotion will leave ESPN for a new $7.7 billion U.S. broadcast deal with Paramount starting in 2026, Megan Olivi is closing this chapter of her career. To mark the end of her work with ESPN, she penned a farewell message.
“I couldn’t help but reflect back on all the things we’ve done with our wonderful teammates at [ESPN MMA],” the 38-year-old wrote on Instagram, sharing photos from recent years that also featured her husband, former UFC fighter Joseph Benavidez. “I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite UFC on ESPN memories…” Olivi explained her inaugural event in 2019 was “special and unique,” which changed her life, especially because she got to work with her husband.
“It was a night [Benavidez] and I shared at work where he won a wildly entertaining fight against Dustin Ortiz, and I served as the reporter for the first event in the new partnership,” Olivi added. She recalled it as the night when UFC’s then–creative producer, Zach Candito, decided to experiment by assigning her to various roles throughout the show. “Those small chances turned into bigger opportunities and evolved the reporter role completely into what you see now.”
Olivi recalled a special moment from the past, when she was interviewing Donald Cerrone while her husband was in the cage fighting. “Everyone around us gave me a big thumbs up to let me know Joe was crushing it—and then ‘Cowboy’ immediately had my back and was like, ‘WAIT, your man is fighting? This interview is over,’” Olivi wrote. She remembers rushing behind a TV truck and praying till the fight came to a close.
“Then I was back to work and waited to hug my husband backstage. That was a night I am so grateful for, that changed so much and gave us a bounty of blessings to celebrate,” Olivi concluded. As the long-time UFC reporter bids farewell to ESPN, UFC President Dana White is looking forward to working with Paramount.
Dana White is eager to work with aggressive, smart guys at Paramount
Following the $7.7 billion agreement, White appeared at the season premiere press conference for the Contender Series, where he boasted about the new deal and the benefits it will bring to the UFC and its fighters. “The fighters are going to get tons of promotion, built by all these different unbelievable networks that these guys own,” he said.
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“And these are aggressive, smart guys that are going to build a big media company,” he added. When a reporter pressed White about whether they would look to tone down the previously stacked numbered events thanks to a lack of pressure to sell pay-per-view, White claimed, “You know, that’s not the way I think. We’re going to go into this Paramount deal guns blazing.”
He promised, “I don’t go ‘Oh, let’s water this down now.’ Uh-uh [No]. Exact opposite.”
This shows the contrasting viewpoints of the $7.7 billion deal with Paramount within the same organization. While Olivi is reminiscing about the good old days, Dana White is thinking about the future. Will you miss ESPN when they are gone? Or getting rid of PPV is too exciting?
The post Megan Olivi Bids Farewell to ESPN as Dana White Looks to Go “Guns Blazing” Into 2026 With $7.7B Deal appeared first on EssentiallySports.