Former MasterChef host Melissa Leong has accepted a new hosting gig, and it’s probably very different to what you were expecting.
Nope, Mel won’t be the face of another cooking show. Instead, she’ll be hosting Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) Fight Week.
She’ll be joined on the show by panellists Tyson Pedro and Dan Hooker. Both men are very established UFC fighters.
The trio will offer commentary ahead of UFC 297 commentary ahead of UFC 297 conduct interviews with UFC middleweight champions Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis.
Melissa announced the new gig on Instagram
The food journalist shared the exciting news about her new UFC gig on Instagram by sharing some behind-the-scenes photos and videos.
“Careful what you wish for… started watching UFC during the pandemic, just hosted Fight Week for UFC297,” she wrote alongside an image of herself posing on set.
“I feel very fortunate [to] have been met with such kindness in this incredible space,” she added.
In another post, Melissa wrote: “And yes, why not begin by interviewing Strickland and Du Plessis… cos we don’t do things by halves.”
Melissa compared UFC to MasterChef
Back in November 2023, during an interview with ABC, Melissa first publicly shared her love of UFC.
“I’m obsessed with the UFC. There, I said it,” she told the publication. “What I love is [that] it is incredible sportsmanship.”
She likened the sport to her former show MasterChef, and said that she loved that it was about both strategy and skill.
‘It’s just like MasterChef. Everybody’s competing against one another and you don’t know what the other person’s going to bring out, so you need to bring your best, but also interpret on the fly,” she said.
More recently, she appeared on UFC podcast Who The Fook Are These Guys.
Stream UFC Fight Week on Kayo Sports and Foxtel from January 17.
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