Caroline Pearce: “It’s a passion. It doesn’t feel like work. I’m just grateful to be still in the game and getting to cover some incredible events.”

Caroline Pearce: “It’s a passion. It doesn’t feel like work. I’m just grateful to be still in the game and getting to cover some incredible events.”

It’s been four years since I last spoke to Caroline Pearce. The former athlete who also dabbled in the world of bobsleigh. Pearce was also a Gladiator, playing Ice in the Sky reboot in the early part of this century.

But Pearce is now forging a highly successful career on the safer side of the sporting landscape. It’s been thirteen years since Pearce started to work for BT Sport, now TNT Sports, presenting in the world of the UFC.

“It’s a passion,” Pearce told me over Zoom. “It doesn’t feel like work. I’m just grateful to be still in the game and getting to cover some incredible events. It’s been a good old ride. It’s exciting, and it’s fun, when you are doing something you love.”

I caught up with Pearce just a few days after UFC 329, which took place last month in Las Vegas. It was an event that featured the return of Conor McGregor, and Paddy Pimblett getting back to winning ways with a sensational victory over Benoît Saint Denis.

Fight Week is relentless for Pearce. “I arrive on a Monday. Tuesday is our media day; that’s when we do our sit-down interviews with a select number of people. I tend to incorporate some of the games into it now. They seem to do better with people with short attention spans instead of just asking the same old questions. We go and have a bit of fun with that. Just some silly stuff that people tend to love.”

“Wednesday is the official media day for the independent outlets,” Pearce added. “Sometimes we will have a few extra interviews to do on that day. Thursday we have the press conference, and we are getting into all the behind-the-scenes content. Friday is the early weigh-ins. We get up early for that, so we are in position when they are ready to step on the scales. Then we go into the ceremonial weigh-ins later in the day and getting the final words of the fighters. Saturday is fight night. We get to the arena around 2 pm to get into position. It’s then about getting those post-fight interviews, and any other behind-the-scenes content we can get.”

The media world is changing. The shorter form content gets more engagement than a longer, more in-depth piece of work. It is a landscape that is governed by the amount of clicks something gets. Pearce understands where the media world currently is.

“I come from more traditional broadcasting and reporting,” Pearce says “I love to have the real conversations with the fighters about their backgrounds and the fight, etc. But I realise they have answered the same questions multiple times throughout fight week. So it’s about trying to find different angles or elaborate on things they have already said. From my perspective, I still like that. But I do understand that’s not always what people want. I do like to try and bring out their personalities. You see what Nina Daniele does with her content; it’s fun, and you get to see their personality. The fighters open up; it’s a little lighter, and there is a place for that as well. It’s finding that balance. The funny games and the virals do well online. Does that get more people to get involved and buy the fights? I don’t know. Just because you tuned into a clip on Instagram, do you buy the fight, or did you just enjoy that 30-second clip online? But I realise what is gaining more popularity online is the stuff that’s a bit sillier. It’s a little frustrating, but I realise that’s what our media world looks like these days.”

Before entering the world of broadcasting, Caroline Pearce was a performer in multiple worlds. That sporting background gives her empathy for the fighters she now interviews. But even with a microphone in hand, Pearce still gets to perform herself. Albeit in a different way.

“Being an athlete myself and knowing what it is like to prepare for big events and knowing that they have one day, one opportunity to do it. It helps me to relate to other athletes and to understand and be sensitive around the questions I ask. It’s a similar feeling when you are doing interviews that are live. Knowing you only get one opportunity to interview them. You do feel that you are building up to something that you have to perform. It’s a similar kind of buzz. I do get nervous being around athletes. I can feel their nervous energy, especially when you get to know the fighters and their families. You do have a vested interest in them not getting hurt and being healthy, as well as staying neutral to what the outcome is.”

As an athlete and a broadcaster, Pearce has excelled. But she isn’t satisfied. Pearce wants to grow further in her current world, but also conquer others. “I’ve always had ambitions to work in other sports,” Pearce told me. “When I got the chance to work for the UFC thirteen years ago, it gave me the opportunity to host a live show, and it’s just grown and grown. I have had spells working for Fox Sports when they had the rights. Working directly for the UFC. I did a spell working for the PFL; I have covered boxing as well. The fight world has become my speciality, and I am very passionate about it, and I want to continue working in that space. I want to continue to grow, expand and do more things. But I do look for and pursue other opportunities. The Olympic Games are coming to Los Angeles in 2028, and it is a huge goal of mine to work at the Olympics. That would be a massive achievement for me. I absolutely love Formula One, but I am aware I haven’t worked in that space before. It’s just getting in. But that is still a passion of mine. MMA is a big passion of mine, but if opportunities come up to work in other sports, I would love to do it.”