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Christopher Polk / Contributor via Getty Images and Jeff Bottari / Contributor via Getty Images
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Kendrick Lamar, Terence Crawford
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Terence Crawford is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in the world, so it is surprising that ESPN, the leading name in sports, would mistake him for someone else during their broadcast of UFC 306.
On Saturday night (Sept. 14), they mistakenly identified him as Kendrick Lamar while the camera captured several high-profile attendees. Lamar ironically name-dropped the storied boxer in his initial diss track targeted directly at Drake. On his song “euphoria,” Lamar mentioned, “I don’t like you poppin’ s**t at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef/ Yeah, fuck 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.”
Fans had mixed reactions after the sports media giant mixed up one of the world’s biggest boxers with one of the world’s biggest rappers. This faux pas comes on the heels of Lamar being announced as the headlining performer at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans in February 2025.
Interestingly, ESPN is known for its strong affiliation with Lil Wayne, who many believe was snubbed by JAY-Z’s Roc Nation and Apple Music for the headlining spot in his hometown. The talented wordsmith’s passion for sports is highly documented, and he even has a tattoo with the logo for the Disney-affiliated network.
The news of the public blunder even led UFC’s owner, Dana White, to speak on the situation. During his press conference he stated, “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.”
The undisputed welterweight champion even had to laugh it off on his Instagram Story, tagging the Pulitzer Prize-winning emcee with a few laughing emojis after the mistake was made. One fan on social media exclaimed, “Mixing up Bud Crawford & Kendrick Lamar prolly the most insane mixup at a sporting event I seen in years.”
Someone else stated, “NO WAY THEY CALLED BUD CRAWFORD KENDRICK LAMAR ON UFC 306 LMFAOOOOOO.” While there is no true indication of how the mix up happened, fans are having a fun time on social media chatting about the name swap.
The “Swimming Pools” rapper recently released a track on Instagram, seemingly speaking on the state of Hip Hop. While some fans attempted to attribute some of the lines to Drake, there were no clear shots at him or anyone else for that matter.
Take a listen to the song below!
