Dana White & Terence Crawford Laugh About UFC’s Kendrick Lamar Mishap
Kendrick Lamar went viral once again, but this time it wasn’t because of a surprise diss track. UFC 306 happened over the weekend in Las Vegas for “Noche UFC” at the Sphere to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, and a bunch of celebs were in attendance to catch the main event between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.
One of those celebrities was boxer Terence “Bud” Crawford, who was taking in the action as he was seated next to Turki Al-Alshaikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
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However, while the producers of the telecast got Al-Alshaikh’s name correct, they confused Crawford for rapper Kendrick Lamar when the camera panned to one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. Of course, fans took notice and posted videos of the gaffe all over social media, with one user telling UFC they will be, in fact, “going to hell.”
Yall are going to hell @ufc pic.twitter.com/2kbsG4JUEH
— Jack Freeman (@jackfreemanjr) September 15, 2024
Both Crawford and UFC boss Dana White had a laugh about the situation. Bud felt like it was done on purpose by some young, intrepid producer who’s been tapped in with the rap battle that defined the summer.
“To be honest, I think it was intentionally done just for laughter because how can you get us mixed up?” Crawford told TMZ. “All in all, it was funny to me.”
He also told the outlet that a bunch of people hit him up referencing when Kendrick name-dropped him in his Drake diss song “Euphoria,” where the Compton rapper told his rival, “I don’t like you poppin’ s–t at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef/Yeah, f–k all that pushin’ P, let me see you Push-a T/ You better off spinnin’ again on him, you think about pushin’ me/ He’s Terrence Thornton, I’m Terence Crawford, yeah, I’m whoopin’ feet.”
During the post-fight press conference, White also had some fun with the mixup and said he had already spoken to the boxer about the mistake. “I was talkin’ to Terence Crawford,” he said while laughing. “I don’t wanna call him … I don’t know who the hell did that and thought it was … Yeah, that was pretty bad. He did kind of look like Kendrick Lamar, though, let’s not f—k around … So, when I said we had a flawless production tonight, I take that back.”
Dana White says UFC mistaking Terence Crawford for Kendrick Lamar was the lone error of the #UFC306 broadcast from Sphere.
"That was pretty bad. He did kinda look like Kendrick Lamar, though." pic.twitter.com/zUVl79xO8W— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) September 15, 2024
In other K. Dot news, he dropped an untitled track with cryptic lyrics that seemed to be aimed at Drake and the rap industry at large where he proclaims that “it’s time to watch the party die.” This new song comes just days after he announced that he would be headlining Super Bowl 59 in February.
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