UFC President Dana White expected Shakur Stevenson to get a hero’s welcome at UFC 329.
Instead, the UFC couldn’t even get the sport right, introducing him as an NBA player. The mishap set up for one of White’s most memorable post-fight rants in recent memory.
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“So, I tell you all the time, my production team is amazing. We just did the White House … and it was the greatest f—ing thing in the world to be there live and to watch it on TV,” White told reporters.
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“I just paid Shakur Stevenson a s— load of money, and for some reason, we can’t figure this celebrity thing out.”
“They put him up as a f—ing OKC NBA player. Are you f—ing kidding me? It’s absolutely crazy,” White continued. “We are the absolute worst to ever do the celebrity thing. When we put celebrities up, we are the worst.”
So what set White off?
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Conor McGregor was making his highly anticipated return to the Octagon, and the Las Vegas crowd was predictably packed with A-listers.
During a routine broadcast sweep of the cageside VIPs, the camera landed on undefeated, four-division boxing champion Shakur Stevenson.
The only problem? He was identified as Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Yikes. Under normal circumstances, that’s something you laugh off. But for White, it was an expensive embarrassment.
White had just spent big to bring Stevenson to Zuffa Boxing. UFC 329 was supposed to celebrate the signing. Instead, the broadcast turned him into a member of the Thunder.
White later revealed he got into a backstage screaming match with his crew, who apparently tried to defend the gaffe by claiming soccer broadcasts are worse because they don’t use graphics at all.
“Oh no,” White fired back. “We put up f—ing graphics and put the wrong guy’s name on them. We win. We’re the worst ever to do it.”
While White was ready to hand out pink slips, the athletes involved took the blunder in stride.
Stevenson hopped on social media, jokingly tweeting, “Yea Dana #FireTheyA–.”
Meanwhile, the real Jalen Williams caught wind of his surprise appearance at UFC 329 and posted a screenshot of the broadcast to his Instagram Stories with the caption, “Ehhh close enough.”
It also wasn’t the UFC’s first celebrity graphic disaster. Fans may remember UFC 306 when the production crew famously labeled world champion boxer Terence Crawford as “Kendrick Lamar.”
The UFC might put on the greatest live spectacles in combat sports, but until it hires a pop culture fact-checker for the production truck, no celebrity sitting cageside is safe from a sudden identity change.
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