UFC’s Celebrity Identification Blunder at UFC 329

At UFC 329, Dana White, the UFC president, anticipated that Shakur Stevenson would be greeted like a celebrity. What he didn’t expect was for the UFC to misidentify Stevenson as an NBA player, and, to make it worse, they mixed it up entirely. This blunder sparked a notable rant from White.

He remarked, “As I always say, my production team is incredible. We just did something at The White House—and it was amazing to witness it live and see it on TV.” He also expressed frustration over the mishap surrounding Stevenson, saying, “I just spent a significant amount on Shakur Stevenson, but I can’t grasp this celebrity mix-up.”

To recount the incident, White was particularly irked that they presented Stevenson as an Oklahoma City Thunder player. “Are you kidding me? That’s just outrageous,” he continued. “We’re the worst at lifting up celebrities and acknowledging them properly.”

So, what exactly ticked him off? Well, Conor McGregor made his return to the Octagon, where the Las Vegas crowd was brimming with celebrities. The cameras frequently caught Shakur Stevenson, but amidst all this, they mistakenly identified him as Jaylen Williams from the Thunder.

Although, that normally might be a comical slip, it was an embarrassing mistake for White, especially after investing so much in obtaining Stevenson’s affiliation with Zuffa Boxing. UFC 329 was meant to celebrate this collaboration, not confuse Stevenson with an NBA player.

White later shared that he had a heated argument with a staff member backstage, who, oddly enough, attempted to defend the error. “Oh, no,” White countered. “We put up horrible graphics and misidentified the person. It was the worst error ever.” Meanwhile, those involved took the blunder lightly. Stevenson joked on Twitter, “Yeah, #FireTheyA–,” while the real Jaylen Williams even posted about his unexpected broadcast appearance on Instagram with a light-hearted caption, “Hmmm, close enough.”

This isn’t the first time the UFC production team has messed up celebrity identities. Fans might recall UFC 306, when world champion boxer Terrence Crawford was wrongly called “Kendrick Lamar.”

Though the UFC offers an excellent live show, it appears that until they incorporate some pop culture fact-checkers, celebrities at ringside could be at risk of such identity mix-ups.