UFC President Dana White couldn’t believe that the UFC 329 broadcast didn’t recognize boxing champion Shakur Stevenson.
UFC events are almost always attended by elite athletes from other disciplines. With Conor McGregor’s first fight since 2021 taking place at UFC 329, it wasn’t surprising to see big names in the crowd.
One of those big names was four-weight boxing world champion Shakur Stevenson, but the UFC broadcast didn’t realize that when the camera panned to the boxer, leading to White’s fury.
Dana White was enraged with the UFC’s production team
While Stevenson was shadowboxing for the cameras at UFC 329, the namecard under him read Jalen Williams, the former NBA Champion playing for the OKC Thunder.
White, who recently signed Stevenson to Zuffa Boxing, was irate at the error.
“I just paid Shakur Stevenson a s—load of money, and for some reason we can’t figure this celebrity s— out. They put him up as a f—— OKC NBA player. Are you f—– kidding me? We are the absolute worst to ever do the celebrity thing.”
OKC Thunder star Chet Holmgren was at the event, so it’s likely a technical goof-up by the production team who had Williams’ titlecard ready in case he appeared on camera.
A far worse outcome is that the production team genuinely thought Stevenson was Williams. A production team for the biggest combat sports organization in the world can never make a mistake like that.
The event itself had some great fights, such as Brandon Royval’s third-round submission win over Lone’er Kavanagh and Paddy Pimblett’s 52-second submission win over Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main event.
McGregor’s return was ruined with a freak knee injury with his first attempted kick against Max Holloway, as the fight ended via doctor’s stoppage in less than a minute.
While Stevenson might have had to endure the anti-climactic finish to the main event, he probably didn’t expect to be mistaken for an NBA forward at a combat sports event.
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