The September 14 UFC 306 broadcast featured a seriously hilarious identity crisis goof-up. Boxing world champion Terence Crawford, sitting cageside at The Sphere in Las Vegas, was mistaken for Kendrick Lamar and publicly addressed as the “Grammy Award & Pulitzer Prize Winning Musician” on live TV.
Viewers quickly jumped on the meme train, unleashing comical responses to the incident on social media. Former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling also participated in the rib-tickling interaction chain, tweeting: “Terence Crawford evolved into Kendrick Lamar tonight.” Bellator Middleweight Champion Johnny Eblen busted a gut watching the mix-up on TV and shared the scene on X: “Yo they mistakenly thought Bud Crawford was Kendrick Lamar (crying emoji).”
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Crawford, too, laughed off the erroneous instance on Instagram and showed the rapper some love by tagging him on the screengrab, with Lamar’s diss track against Drake, “Euphoria” playing along. The six-minute rap battle song ironically also name-drops Crawford, as Lamar says: “He’s Terrence Thornton, I’m Terence Crawford, yeah, I’m whoopin’ feat.”
UFC CEO Dana White responds
When asked in a post-event interview if he was expecting a text from Kendrick Lamar and Terence Crawford, UFC CEO Dana White cheekily said that he had spoken to Crawford about the identity crisis blunder.
“That was pretty bad… He did kind of look like Kendrick Lamar… let’s not f**k around,” a flustered White responded while in stitches. “So when I said we had a flawless production tonight, I take that back.”
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Netizens react to the Kendrick Lamar-Terence Crawford mix-up
As the TV screengrab spread like wildfire on X, formerly Twitter, Lamar swiftly started trending on the platform. Netizens cracked up, suggesting that someone was definitely getting fired after the major fumble. Some even joked that this “intentional trolling” was pre-planned, considering Lamar referred to himself as Crawford in his Drake diss track earlier this year.
“UFC is forever goated Terrance Crawford shown as Kendrick Lamar They weren’t confused about nothing, yall just don’t listen,” a user quipped.
Another X user echoed the sentiment, “Terence Crawford may not be Kendrick Lamar, but Kendrick Lamar is Terence Crawford
Several others agreed that UFC’s gaffe was “definitely a reference” to Lamar’s “Euphoria.” On the contrary, some questioned, “How can a company as big as The UFC get this one wrong??”
Another person interjected, “Maybe someone thought Terence is real name and Kendrick is his rap name.” Yet another netizen fumed at how people were missing the hilarity of the situation, insinuating it was all part of the plan: “Yall will really deny that grass is green cuz how could this be a mistake?”
