Dana White blasts UFC production team after Shakur Stevenson misidentified at UFC 329

Dana White publicly lambasted his own production team at the UFC 329 post-fight press conference after boxer Shakur Stevenson, who recently signed a multi-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing, was misidentified on the broadcast as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams.

The gaffe is not an isolated incident. At a previous UFC event held at the Sphere in Las Vegas, boxer Terence Crawford appeared on screen accompanied by a graphic identifying him as rapper Kendrick Lamar. White acknowledged that these errors have become a pattern, and he was in no mood to downplay it.

“I just paid Shakur Stevenson a shit load of money and for some reason we can’t figure the celebrity shit out,” White said. “They put him up as a fcking OKC NBA player! Are you fcking kidding me? It’s absolutely crazy. We are the absolute worst to ever do the celebrity thing.”

White had been in a notably positive mood heading into the event, having praised the same production team for their work at a recent White House event where the UFC constructed a full arena on the South Lawn. That goodwill evaporated quickly on Saturday night.

According to White, the post-event conversation backstage turned into a debate over which sports organisation handles celebrity identification worst. His team attempted to deflect blame toward soccer broadcasts, arguing that those productions often show celebrities without any graphic at all. White was unconvinced.

“Soccer shows the people and they don’t put up any graphics,” he said. “Oh no. We put up fcking graphics and put the wrong guy’s name on it. We’re the worst ever to fcking do it.”

White stopped short of announcing any specific changes to his production staff or workflow to prevent the same mistake from recurring. Stevenson himself later responded to both the error and White’s very public dressing-down of the team responsible.