Dana White was livid with the UFC’s production team after they recently displayed four-division world champion boxer Shakur Stevenson as Oklahoma City Thunder player Jalen Williams during the UFC 329 broadcast. The UFC CEO went on an X-rated rant, claiming his company’s production team was the “worst.” But after the FIFA World Cup concluded, the 56-year-old believes the tournament’s production team fared even worse. 

“You know what’s crazy?” White said in a social media video. “I actually teed up the guys who are responsible for the production of the World Cup for you guys to hit a grand slam home run. Even though everybody on my team was arguing with me, saying that you are the worst, I said, ‘No, we are the worst. They didn’t f—k it up as bad as we did.’

“And what do you guys do? You triple down today and just go, ‘F—k you, Dana White. You’re not beating us. We’re the worst production team in the history of sports to ever show celebrities.’ I bow down. Congratulations to the producers of the World Cup. You guys win. You guys f—d up that flyover, too. I’m not going to nitpick. I’m just giving you credit where credit is due. You guys absolutely f—g suck. We are the second worst.”   

Dana White showing utter disdain for the World Cup final’s broadcasting has some substance behind it. FIFA World Cup’s official English broadcaster, FOX, which also served as the UFC’s broadcasting partner from 2011 to 2018, made several on-air mistakes during the tournament that were simply too glaring to ignore. During the broadcast, FOX Sports announcer John Strong mistakenly identified actor Matt Damon as Brad Pitt and immediately cracked a joke to cover that mistake. But the errors went beyond that.

While Spain battled Argentina, the BBC commentators also mixed up American musician and songwriter Pharrell Williams with fellow artist A$AP Rocky, which again caught fans’ attention. For those instances and more, Dana White believes the FIFA World Cup’s production team outdid the UFC when it came to botching celebrity appearances during the broadcast.

It became crystal clear that the UFC CEO hated the FIFA World Cup production team’s work, but when it comes to his overall views on soccer itself, White has never been a big fan of the sport. Back in 2018, Dana White said in an interview with The Calgary Sun that soccer is the “least-talented sport on Earth” and that “three-year-olds” can play the game. Naturally, that take didn’t sit well with fans of the sport.

Now, as Dana White roasted the FIFA World Cup’s entire production team, the UFC’s current official broadcasting partner, Paramount+, also joined in on the trolling. 

Paramount+ compares the FIFA World Cup final to one of the worst UFC fights ever 

The World Cup final between two of the best teams on the planet, Argentina and Spain, was one of the most anticipated matches in recent memory. Many expected it to live up to the thrilling 2022 showdown, when Lionel Messi’s side produced a miracle against France. But the actual match turned out to be a rather lackluster affair, with Spain dominating the play throughout and constantly pinning Argentina’s defense back.

Though there were moments of individual brilliance, the decisive moment came in the 106th minute when Spain’s Ferran Torres scored the winning goal to defeat the defending champions at MetLife Stadium and lift the World Cup. Because of that, some viewers felt the actual thrill of the game had been compromised. The UFC’s official broadcasting partner, Paramount+, certainly didn’t hold back, comparing the FIFA World Cup final to the UFC 274 strawweight title fight between Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza 2. 

“This World Cup final so far,” Paramount+ posted on X, uploading the official poster of the Namajunas vs Esparza rematch.  

Well, the UFC 274 co-main event is widely regarded as one of the worst fights in UFC history because neither fighter showed any real urgency to actually engage. Neither Rose Namajunas nor Carla Esparza confidently stepped forward, resulting in the fans constantly booing the showdown. In the end, Esparza reclaimed the belt, but the clash is still regarded as one of the most forgettable and boring fights in UFC history, alongside Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero. 

That said, with Dana White publicly slamming the FIFA World Cup’s broadcasting, it will be interesting to see whether his promotion’s production team tightens things up to avoid misidentifying people during future broadcasts.