It was Shakur Stevenson on the seat but it was NBA star Jalen Williams’ name on the screen. That one broadcast graphic became one of the bigger talking points to come out of UFC 329, headlined by Conor McGregor’s comeback against Max Holloway at T-Mobile Arena. Dana White didn’t wait for reporters to bring it up. He got ahead of it himself at the post-fight press conference.

“Listen, I tell you all, I can’t believe nobody’s hit me with this one yet,” White said. “I’m going to beat you to it. So, I tell you all the time, my production team, we just did the White House. We built an arena on the south lawn of the White House, and it was the greatest thing in the world to be there live and to watch it on TV.”

“I just paid Shakur Stevenson a sh*tload of money, and for some reason we can’t figure this celebrity sh*t out. They put him up as a f**king OKC NBA player. Are you f**king kidding me? I mean, it’s just absolutely crazy. We are the absolute worst to ever do the celebrity thing. When we put celebrities up, we are the worst. I just had this f**king debate in the back with my guys while I was screaming at everybody back there, and they said, ‘No, soccer’s worse. ‘Soccer shows the people, and they don’t put up any graphics. ‘Oh no. We put up f**king graphics and put the wrong guy’s name on it! We win. We’re the worst EVER to f**king do it.”

The mix-up happened during the broadcast’s celebrity montage, a segment built to show off the star power in the building. Mike Tyson, Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, and Noel Gallagher were all part of that crowd. And Stevenson, the newest signee to White’s own Zuffa Boxing promotion, was sitting cageside among them.

Every name on that graphic came up correctly except one. When the camera landed on the four-division boxing champion, the broadcast tagged him as Jalen Williams, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard who won an NBA title with the team last year.

This wasn’t a first for UFC’s production team either. The most well-known precedent came at UFC 306 also known as Noche UFC, held in September 2024 at The Sphere in Las Vegas. During that broadcast, boxing champion Terence Crawford was misidentified on screen as rapper Kendrick Lamar while sitting cageside for Sean O’Malley’s title defense against Merab Dvalishvili. White addressed that one too, though with a very different tone.

“I don’t know who the hell did that,” White said at the time. “That was pretty bad. He did kind of look like Kendrick Lamar, though. Let’s not f–k around.”

Jalen Williams, for his part, brushed off being pulled into someone else’s broadcast error, posting simply, “Ehh, close enough…” on his Instagram story.

However, it’s worth noting mixed martial arts isn’t the only sport with a case like this on record.

Before Shakur Stevenson, Cristiano Ronaldo found himself at the center of a similar confusion

Though there is no strong evidence that things transpired as they were reported, it appears that Cristiano Ronaldo’s appearance in Japan during an event that took place in 2014 or 2015 fueled speculation about him being mistaken for Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo Nazario, popularly known as R9.

The bewildered look on Cristiano Ronaldo’s face as Japanese entertainers welcomed him with samba music and carnival-style dancing, suggesting he is from Brazil instead of Portugal, likely sparked rumors, as many users on social media interpreted the incident as if the hosts had mistaken Cristiano Ronaldo for a Brazilian player or, more specifically, Ronaldo Nazario.

Setting aside White’s scathing criticism, the goof-up could be viewed as a one-off incident that, however, could have been avoided, particularly when the fledgling Zuffa Boxing is trying to gain a foothold by recruiting star names to its roster.

Stevenson’s own next appearance in front of a camera won’t be left to a production team’s discretion. His Zuffa Boxing debut, still remains unannounced just days after signing. However, it is expected to be built around a fight with WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney, a matchup both fighters have been publicly circling for months.