Megan Olivi | UFC 258 Preview & Big UFC 259 Announcement! | Energized Show

Summary

What is up and welcome to the latest Energized Show! On this episode we have the one and only Megan Olivi on to discuss the UFC's return to Vegas, UFC 258 & our UFC 259 announcement. Check it out, enjoy, subscribe for the craic and as always Stay Energized! Follow us on…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

Kind: captions Language: en okay what's going on guys welcome to a brand new episode of enjoys ross introduce the guest man we have broadcast extraordinaire from espn nfl and fox and the ufc also co-host of the benelli podcast miss megan o'leavy megan how are you doing hey i am so great i'm like i feel like i have all this energy now that i'm talking to you guys so thank you for that very kind intro very energetic how are things going how are things going and how is the ben levy podcast four episodes deep how are you feeling being in the podcast world now you're so sweet um it's going great you know honestly like i was not super into the idea uh people have kind of suggested it to joseph and i for a couple of years now but if you know the two of us like outside of our work lives we're pretty like bashful maybe we don't really think like people would really care about the other stuff we're doing you know so i don't know we were very hesitant to ever open up our lives or or put ourselves out there on a platform like that just kind of felt weird about it um but finally we were like you know with the pandemic and and just kind of the uncertainty of the world we were like why aren't we doing this at least it's something for us you know a project for us to do together and continue to you know just kind of be able to expand our reach in different forms of media and so we did it and the first three episodes were received so well it was like i was so man i was so nervous i was not in i was not into it even when the day we released him last week i was like this is a terrible idea um but the fourth one came out today and um so far so good and it seems like people like it so that's all we can ask for yeah what's called from listeners say i do slide into my girls dms uh i do indeed uh like she put up a little workout video she's mad into the gym and stuff for that and then you know you know boost the confidence there you know and i'm also a new york giants guy so i love eloy manning too yeah so you can't go wrong you know eli manning uh he was also the first post game interview i ever did for the nfl and you know i wore an eli manning jersey in college like when they wore this when they won the super bowl i was wearing an eli manning jersey so then i interviewed him and he was so kind um i was like joe can we name our firstborn eli whenever that day happens like he was just so great eli manning forever yeah the mornings seemed like great guys as well but yeah you know what peyton was at the game that um that i worked with eli and they both were like freaking hilarious you know they're really funny and they're like great on snl and in these commercials they they were very much like that in real life besides being giant human beings like they are so huge that it's almost like daunting um but they they were great and like so so kind so nothing but love for them obviously we saw peyton um on the field at the super bowl we'll see him in the hall of fame which is super cool so hopefully he like gets there soon and then if you were to describe tom brady in one sentence after winning his seventh super bowl bling bling seven ring tell me how would you describe one sentence he's a [ __ ] legend there and like i have nothing against tom brady and i you know i think sometimes when somebody's so great like joe and i talked about this a little bit when somebody's so great or they're so good at their job even whether it's like a tom brady athleticism thing or not we almost forget how talented they are and how good they are because they make it look easy like he made that game look easy against a guy in patrick mahomes who is incredibly talented and the entire chiefs team so for tom brady to just be like i'm i'm switching to another city listen two years ago i was working buccaneers games which means they weren't that great because i usually have like the teams that are maybe not the game of the week so for them to turn around and win a super bowl in just two years um you know and to have tom be like this is my team and and take him to the super bowl in his first season with i mean it's mind-blowing he deserves all the credit and recognition he puts in the work from what i've heard he's always been like very great to everybody around him and like that's even better when somebody's so talented and then you hear like oh they're a nice guy too so he deserves like all the praise he's getting i hope for nothing but great thanks for tom brady and he's the ufc fan so like selfishly i'm like hey maybe he watches our broadcast too and thinks we're great don't forget no honorable mention the grunk you know i'm sure you know who i'm sure would love the gronk i'd love to go on night out rob gronkowski me and gian valante i'd say that would be wild um 100 we call john like the ufc's gronk like that's like that's been like established for him because they do seem like they are some sort of weird like maybe frat brothers or something right or like sexy cousins they're somehow related for sure great comparison yeah i love it also i heard at the end of the super bowl a couple of tom brady's teammates said oh i got one but you got seven you guys know we won together just the way he like passes on just uh just knowledge and it's not all about him it's uh it's amazing to see especially with a squad foot like with over 50 people and he rocks who's going to be in the in the in the like game longer like tom brady or is dana going to be in uc longer both are just going to last forever that's a good point they're just drinking from the fountain of youth both of them after this they brought it megan like we said off air but we have to put it in here right we said before that myself and ross were at uc 217 and ross ended up winning the competition there and the thing is we got to meet you on the red car on the purple carpet and then it's so funny to have met you there and you're such a nice person to us and so is everyone else who's there but now to have you on the show as well it's it's almost come for full circle ross yeah no it was probably you uh what are you describing as like the best moments of my life we had robbie fox from barcelo sports uh on last week and when we were on the plane over to ufc 217 like george st pierre was always my favorite fighter and i was like deloitte i got to see him and you know three title fights on the one card and we were going over there and it was like what's the best thing that could happen it was like oh maybe we'll bump into a few voiders and then like the list of fighters we met just went on and on and on and like you you actually probably don't know this megan but we actually went to tj dillashaw's after party afterwards and so it was it was a pretty lit a couple of days for us knocking like yeah the tj not mentioned that now the tj not mentioned up our typical tj but megan before before we get into it before we get into everything obviously like the uc is backing pages which is amazing like a quick question is like you've been to so many events and watched so many fights which event has been the one that really really stood out for you you know that's a really good question i think i have sort of a laundry list for many different reasons but i would probably say the very first i think ufc 205 at madison square garden you know for somebody like me who grew up near madison square garden um watching boxing happen there i went to hockey games and basketball games and my college plays basketball there sometimes um i to be able to watch our sport get into you know the world's most famous arena and then for me personally to be a part of that broadcast you know i come from my grandfather was a boxer um his brother my great uncle was a boxer i come from a family who wrestled and boxed in every generation and it really felt special and it felt like i don't know i was like representing my family in a place that is you know so iconic and then you know to have connor make history that night and for me to be able to do such a big interview with him and have him you know talk about that he was going to become a dad as well you know it was just it just kind of came all together and that like you know i lived in new york city i went to graduate school there went to college right outside of new york city i it just was like very very special for me on on personal and professional levels that that one is probably my my my most memorable um to date but i do i feel like i have a long list i feel like i should write them out one day yeah you get to interview everyone so it must be really hard to be like one thing and even that picture with shaquille o'neal is like just one of the funniest ones going around that's a fantastic that's just no i like didn't know what was happening so i was like literally on live tv hosting the desk because we had like a quick finish on the prelims and i my phone was blowing up and i could see it lighting up over there and i thought i'm on tv like i don't know what's happening so i get off and then i have like a million messages being like where are you come downstairs we need you right now so i like run literally run downstairs and i'm like what's the emergency they're like you have to interview shaq so shaq's just standing there i had no preparation no clue what was going on they're like hey shaq how's it going i had they didn't have anything for me to stand on so obviously you see the height discrepancy there which is massive that's cool let's go yeah what absolutely is for that megan let's get into it ufc 258 this weekend the nigerian nightmare camaro usman versus gilbert durango burns what do you make of this weekend and is this the two best welterweights in the division going to tow you know what i am so excited for this weekend and i really love this matchup it's one i've been waiting for for a long time obviously we were supposed to see it in july and then um gilbert did uh come down with covid thankfully he recovered fine and we're able to see this fight again uh or this matchup finally come together again i i'm really intrigued by it um i think neither of them get maybe as much love and respect uh as they both deserve for their talents inside the octagon um i oh i think when you add in the fact that they used to be teammates not that there's bad blood because i really don't get the vibe that there is but just the fact that they you know there's these photos of like kamaru cornering gilbert and uh gilbert holding mario on his shoulders after one of his wins you know i just think there's so many layers to it and when you spar with somebody so many times and you you know them intimately and and your training partners for years and years i think there is something to be said about how you prepare for a fight like that and on both ends you know it's not like one has the advantage over the other in terms of how well they know each other they both they've been in there together so i just think it'll be really interesting to see i think it's a great one for the welterweight division um i'm interested to see you know the future of 170 this year and how that kind of plays out what path that goes down but i both i think that both of these gentlemen are so incredibly talented i hope the world can see that and continue to really recognize it on saturday night guys can i just ask bro quick question is this the first time like two almost like they come across as brothers like as of like very very recently is this the first time you've seen two guys or girls fighting each other who know each other that well maybe on the same level as jon jones and uh rashad evans like is there anyone else who's been that close well let's say cody and tj as well yeah you'd be very close to that megan well i mean i don't think cody and tj were as close as maybe people need them that's right yeah john and rashad i mean i know that even like tisha and joanna had trained together um not that they spent a ton of time training together but they were in the same gym atmosphere and american top team um you know off the top of my head those are kind of the ones that i i can think about at the moment um but i i do think that oftentimes fighters know each other maybe not in maybe not originally like in the same division but if somebody moves weight classes they know each other better than we may expect there's so much cross-training that goes on especially now with the ufc performance institute you'll see people from all different walks of life come in and train together so i do think um that there's probably a lot more familiarity i can never say that word still for my conor interview but they're more familiar with each other than uh than maybe we would normally think about but uh yeah no i think probably this is the closest in terms of like friendship as well um that we've seen as of late at least i must say when i was watching dc and ariel the other day by the way i loved their show and dc said one of those guys knows who the better one is he said he knew came less velasquez was the better heavyweight and that's why he moved down to light heavyweight and he said rashad evans knew john jones is the better guy funnily enough i haven't heard much of who is the better guy i thought at this stage you might hear somebody trickle something out of one those he was the better guy but it looks like we're going to find out fight night yeah absolutely i will say though i did a q a yesterday like a virtual q a with camaro and kelvin gastelum and at the end of it i just kind of asked him like how do you win and kamaru said like he you know hopefully they prepared and i would love to have like a fun battle but he's like otherwise i really see it being a one-sided very one-sided fight um so that kind of put into my head you know maybe he does feel like whatever he took away from their training when they were training he felt like he was the stronger of the two but you know uh in terms of preparation you know it'll be interesting to see how they both prepared since they do know each other so well and and motivation you know it doesn't really matter who is better in the gym it matters who's better on saturday night and so um that's i think something obviously we're all really looking forward to i meg what does kamara usman have to do to get the respect that he deserves because i look at him he's ranked number five on the pound-for-pound list he's undefeated in ufc history like maybe you borrow the call be covered in fight i don't remember anyone even taking a round off this guy and i feel like he's not disclosed up there with some of the best to ever do it what do you think he's missing that's a really good question and sometimes i feel like that about lots of different people on our roster i think some of it has to do with their natural personalities maybe they're not as attention seeking as others may be and you know i just i'm a firm believer in no matter what walk of life you come from letting the work speak for you and i think kamaru is of that thinking as well i mean at the end of the day um his performances are going to speak for themselves and so whether whether he does a million interviews or none and whether he's out there you know looking for the publicity or none um i still think it's his fights that speak for him and you know i think that people catch on eventually i'm not saying that people aren't giving him respect in no way do i mean that i just i think um you know the growth in his in his uh popularity or his um his name value whatever whatever you want to call it i think all lies in how he performs and i do think that fight in july was so massive so many people tuned in um that it really made me change the tide and now people are including his name and a lot of conversations he's always deserved to be in yeah well i was look i always look at the numbers because i i was looking at the embedded numbers and his numbers are doing better than ufc 256 and usb25 not really fair to compare him to ufc but um he he's doing he's doing some decent numbers this time and i think it was more i put the narrative on the respect thing there because uh i went on a bit of a rant on the last podcast saying like he oozman's the man and i think um and i actually said he was going to win 50 45 across the board and that's no respect disrespected gilbert during burns but i just feel like oozeman is the cream of the crop and there's no two ways about it and can i just say what a nice human being he is actually gilbert as well they are so kind and like i know we often i i especially like always want to acknowledge like the good guys in our sport or around sports um especially because if you don't know the ufc sometimes you might not understand that that these men and women are just tremendous individuals but yeah kamaru is like salt of the earth wonderful human being and i hope that people know that about him as well too because i think it is really important that we also acknowledge you know the the way people go out of um out of their routines to help others or be there for others and he's certainly a guy like that i think i think i was just like from an outsider looking in a camaro like obviously he's so dominant as ross said as well but like i think because of the overwhelming fight he wins our decisions and then also with his uh the person he's facing off is always such a big person it's like toronto woodley it's also kobe covington like even ben oscar and calling the marty this sort of stuff they're sort of slightly taking the piss i think as time goes on eventually camaro retires looks back and who he's beaten i think people really put him up there in the top 10 pound-for-pound goats potentially yeah i don't i totally agree with that yeah meg just remember just moving off from that as well in the comment event we have macy barber she's making a return coming off a loss and she's taking on alexa grasso this is the call main event what do you make of this and also macy barber how far do you think she can come because you've seen the trajectory of nearly everyone's career i love this fight um i think they're both obviously we know about macy barber's quest to become the youngest champion in ufc history which she needs to do by early 2022 um to be able to beat that john jones record i love this fight i am a huge fan of both of these women i also firsthand know how difficult it is for an athlete to come back from a major injury like that my own husband suffered a torn acl lcl pcl and meniscus all at once and had to come back from that um so this is macy's first fight back um i know that she's you know been very serious about her rehab which is which is like the biggest part of it right you have to take it as if it's like training for a world title fight um i'm a huge fan of alexa grosso um and so i just think i don't know i think this is a really fun one and i'm interested to see because they're both young and they both do have the ability to become world champion they certainly do they're very not just young in age but young in the sport as well so i think they're continuing to grow shape themselves when you have things like the performance institute as a young athlete that you can start to rely on early on in your career take care of your body make sure you're cutting weight properly you know not like maybe the sport people who didn't have those resources 15 years ago who were unable to get physical therapy when they needed it or or you know monitor their metabolism the way they needed it i i'm just so interested in this matchup i think it's going to be a really fun one russ who are you taking for this one um i do fancy macy barber and this one but i must say like alex graso when she first came in from invicta you know i mean she was the hottest woman prospect on earth but one thing that i find very interested in this is i don't think there's been two women co-headline or co-main inventing um a pay-per-view this young in their ufc career not named chris cyborg or ronda rousey so ufc has put the spotlight on these women and this is a massive opportunity for both these women to go out there put on a performance and stake a claim for a top five and then maybe a title shot later on the year so you know big lights on let's see who can perform under them absolutely yeah megan is there any other fights in this card that for people that don't really know any of the fighters or just one that you're really looking forward to on this card well the fight that immediately precedes the co-main event i think is so interesting um between kelvin gastelum and ian heinisch um you know we know kelvin as a title contender we've seen his incredible performances knocking out guys like michael bisping and having that wild five round like iconic battle with israel otto sonia yeah we know of calvin's talents and the capabilities i think ian hines really has this fire in him and you know i i um i was very fortunate to be able to uh record a podcast for a new series we're doing where ian really laid out his entire life story yeah it's an amazing love story it is um i really hope that if you if you want to listen it's called becoming a fighter it's on the um ufc unfiltered page but to hear his story laid out and the things that he's gone through in his life i mean you really couldn't even write a movie about it right like it would you wouldn't believe you'd be like okay this isn't this isn't realistic like you gotta take some of this drama out but it's his actual life and when you see somebody like that in our sport a loss or setback they're that's not gonna hinder them like they well that's nothing to them he was in a spanish prison for three years and he went to rikers like the guy can bounce back from a loss and if there's anybody who has a drive and a dedication and a motivation to become great and to be a champion or to be you know the best in their division i really think it's ian heinisch so i'm very interested for this matchup um it's one of my my favorites on the card russ is there any fights you're looking forward to because i know you were talking about jim miller versus bobby greenman oh yeah you can't you can only have one pick megan right okay well you've already made mine fine let's be honest oh oh i'm actually very interested in that one as well megan just cause kevin gosling's coming off three losses for the first time in his career and then ian hoynish finally gets his chance to crack that top ten and let's let's hear that goes but uh again yeah jim miller will set the record um at ufc 258 for most fights in ufc history so i'll definitely be cheering on jim miller on that one also if he wins he will have the second most wins in ufc history uh he'll have 22 and cowboy will have 23. so um i mean also like what what lofty number like it's just incredible a guy from new jersey don't worry megan i know that because that was one of the questions i had to answer to win the ufc uh thing at ufc 217 except at the time it was biz being gsp and damien meyer where the mouse wins you're just like an encyclopedia i love it man yeah mega man you've met your master or us but uh guys one point i am really looking forward to seeing is ricky simone and brian keller that's also kicking off the early premiums but megan just before we we let you go like uc is now back in vegas i think it's for the next six weeks is it tbd i think okay bro okay but like um obviously borrowed this pay-per-view like what what like one other fight or one or two other fights are you looking forward to seeing in vegas because we have so much lined up and it is so exciting and like it's a mma fans dream isn't it oh yeah and like selfishly for all of us who work on the shows we live in vegas so it's so nice to be able to drive to and from work and like still see our families and stuff every day um i have got to say this march 6 card is just incredible three title fights my husband is fighting on that card as well you've got dominic cruz making his return there are just so many great matchups um on ufc 259 that i ca it's hard to just pick one i mean we we've got izzy and jan um we've got uh uh peter yon versus al joe and then we've got megan versus amanda and then like i said joe's fighting that night which i can't wait to see him get back to the office yes um and like yeah like i think dominic cruz versus casey kenny is actually a very intriguing matchup um i think drew dobber's on that card um who else thiago santos has fought in alexander rockets as well yes they just announced that right yeah that card is someone's getting knocked out yeah that card is just a fire card so i really i'm like so honestly traditionally it's very hard for me to look towards future cards because we really want to focus on what's in front of us and we really want to make sure that we're we're giving them the attention that they deserve and the effort that they deserve so yeah usually it's really hard for me to even sometimes i won't even know who's fighting the next week and not because i don't care but because i'm so invested in what's in front of me but uh ufc 259 is certainly one i i i just can't wait for yeah i i myself and ross really can't wait to see the ufc 259 countdown as well sir can we not yeah apparently yeah we might feature in it so uh hopefully we make the final let up but it's looking good for us so uh that's that's a big feather in our cap yeah but uh bravo gentlemen megan just where we let you go because we know you're very busy obviously everything's happened this week uc258 but uh we want to thank you very much for coming on the show because and taking some time out of your day to let us know exactly what's happening on fight week as well yeah on friday yeah we thought we thought it was perfect well like thanks a million uh everything you're doing is brilliant like we keep seeing the evolution of making a levy from uh from looking up the tearing heights of shaq to hitting the nfl field you know i mean you're doing everything and then shout out to joe as well we can't wait to see him back in action as well yeah thank you you guys are so sweet and i just want to give you a shout out because you guys were so nice when we met in new york and it was such a fun time i know my husband enjoyed it as well the fact that we all got to hang out and chat with you and you've been nothing but kind ever since so i will come on this show anytime you ask me i appreciate your time and effort and all of your knowledge and uh yeah this was fun i'm actually going to start fighter meetings in a couple of minutes so i appreciate i appreciate you guys having me on before we kick off the craziness of fight week and keep doing what you're doing you guys are killing it thanks meg one last thing we asked robbie to ask dana this so we're gonna ask you as well ufc was meant to come back to dublin uh on august the 15th for darren hill against robert whittaker which turned out to be unbelievable i know you were meant to go okay well that's that's the thing next time the points are on us the point to give us around us next time but you have to make sure it asks they end up to sort it out next time i will i'm gonna say this though you guys know that i don't drink so you're gonna have to buy me just like bunch of sparkling water so that instead of pines would be way cheaper for you but uh i will talk to them about it i was scheduled to go to that show i was so stoked it was right by my birthday i was like this is gonna be the best i love every time i go to dublin i'll see what i can do we'll do a ben levy tour yeah joe's never been to ireland um we have to sort that out yeah i've been to dublin a couple of times and we were just talking about this he's never been there or to england at all it's like we're gonna have to change that but ireland's much better but yeah make sure 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