After UFC 260 on the finish of March, the ESPN spokesperson tweeted in tribute to the skills of the MMA championship professional group, however notably missed Olivi.
“Ummm hey there – you’re forgetting someone,” she replied, with a response that obtained nearly 4,000 likes.
Again, Smith failed to acknowledge her.
Ummm hey there – are you forgetting somebody 😁
– Megan Olivi (@MeganOlivi) March 28, 2021
In a question-and-answer session after the UFC 261 weigh-ins on Friday, Olivi was approached concerning the topic by reporters and admitted: “It was actually difficult for me”.
“I don’t like social media in general, but then playing such a big role in terms of pre-fight and post-fight interviews, like, I’m doing them on the spot…”
“Then to make all of the success of the present and be part of this group and actually the one ladies on the pay-per-view group – there isn’t any different workplace host, there isn’t any there is no such thing as a one earlier than or after the present. It’s actually simply me.
“And I labored to be right here. I didn’t obtain this. It’s been a really lengthy journey, as individuals who noticed me 10 years in the past can attest. I did every part the precise solution to get right here, and for not receiving the popularity that my male colleagues obtained, I was really harm so a lot, ” she confessed, even though it was “Pleasant” to see colleagues and followers defend his honor.
.@MeganOlivi felt “really hurt” by the tweet from Stephen A. Smith who didn’t acknowledge her as a part of the #UFC broadcast group: “Unfortunately, that is one thing the ladies on this room have already handled. »Watch the complete video: https://t.co/YcBaWHIqJSpic.twitter.com/Pi4pfDNHTT
– MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) April 23, 2021
But although therapy is one thing “The women in this room have treated”, the American would not imagine that is one thing Smith, who has typically fallen sufferer to ladies within the MMA neighborhood, deliberately did.
“I do not assume he did it on function. I do not assume there was any intention, “ Olivi pointed out, earlier than showing to doubt Smith’s data of the game.
“I do not assume he was attempting to be impolite in any method. I simply do not assume it really mattered to him. I do not know the way a lot he really seemed. I do know he is imagined to be an MMA insider doing his finest, however he additionally has lots of work to do. ”
I would not anticipate Stephen A Smith, the man who would not like to look at ladies’s fights, to present Megan Olivi probably the greatest UFC broadcasters within the sport. Despicable.
– Fernie Gonzalez (@ Fernieg2323) March 28, 2021
“I also wonder if he was helped with the tweet, if maybe it was just ‘OK, here are the people on the show’,” Olivi thinks about it.
“It could be good if he ever mentioned, ‘Oh shit,’ I have never seen that. But I do not assume that is the character we’re coping with. “ she concludes.
As talked about, this is not Smith’s first rodeo relating to ticking off ladies in Olivi’s career.
A couple of months in the past the presenter paid $ 8million a 12 months for his ideas, mentioned he simply did not have it “Want to see women hit each other in the face” in fight sports activities.
” I think there are a huge number of women who are incredibly qualified to do the job they do.Smith’s explosion continued on Larry Wilmore’s “Black on the Air” podcast.
” Where I leap off the prepare is the place they attempt to bodily have interaction.
” For example, I never want to see a woman box a man. I do not want to see that. I don’t want to see a woman in the UFC fight a man – even though there are women out there who are going to kick the guy’s butt. ”
As he went on a rampage, nevertheless, it grew to become clear that Smith’s downside was that girls fought arduous, and never simply males.
” When I consider pugilist sports activities, I do not prefer to see ladies concerned in it in any respectSmith mentioned.
” I don’t prefer it. I would not advocate legislating that they cannot do it, however I do not wish to see ladies slap themselves within the face. I do not wish to see ladies preventing within the Octagon and stuff like that.
” It is only me,” he signed.