Dana White Discusses Playback Issues, Graphics Problems Post-UFC 329

Dana White, UFC CEO, completed another International Fight Week with the close of UFC 329 late Saturday night. While the evening's main event between Conor McGregor and Max Holloway ended inside the opening round due to injury, the card as a whole provided memorable moments.

Since UFC 324 this past January, all UFC events, numbered cards included, have been available to stream via Paramount Plus inside the United States and other countries. Numbered events will soon be available to Paramount Plus subscribers in Canada.

Back in June, the UFC announced that effective in 2027, flagship cards will be streamed live on Paramount Plus for Canadian audiences. Just like in the United States of America, these shows will be accessible to subscribers of the streaming service with no added fees required once the new deal kicks in at the start of the new year.

Dana White Speaks on Paramount Plus Playback Issues at UFC 329 Post-Fight Presser

Following the conclusion of Saturday night's main event, Dana White met with the media backstage at T-Mobile Arena in Enterprise, NV. John Morgan asked White about Paramount Plus subscribers' inability to watch past UFC shows in their entirety on playback, prompting the company's CEO to speak from his own experience.

"Made aware of it?," Dana White began. "My kids were torturing me that they couldn't watch the White House fight over again, you know?"

Viewers who have watched archived UFC shows through the promotion's own subscription-based outlet, UFC Fight Pass, know that the telecasts will be regularly edited for playback for copyright reasons when it comes to walkout music for the fighters. The same reasoning applies for Paramount Plus replays of recent shows.

"The problem is the music," White continued, "and you've got to take the walkouts out. We're working on it."

Dana White on Wrong Lower-Third Graphic Being Used During UFC 329 Broadcast

If you watched UFC 329 over the weekend, a tradition continued between fights on the main card. As has been the case for years during UFC shows, closeup shots of celebrities were displayed Saturday evening with an accompanying graphic showing their name.

In the television parlance, this graphic is known as a lower-third. There was a gaffe during a closeup shot involving Shakur Stevenson, just signed to Dana White's pugilsm venture, Zuffa Boxing, on the telecast of the main card.

While Shakur Stevenson was shown onscreen, the lower-third for Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Jaylen Williams was incorrectly cued up.  Although the broadcast crew of Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan could laugh it off, Dana White had a more serious reaction backstage later on in the evening. 

"We are the absolute worst to do this celebrity thing," he told the media. "When we put celebrities up, we are the worst. I just had this 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.'"

Dana White's Comments on Graphics Continued

White says his own company is now the leader in the clubhouse in that category.

"Oh, no, we put up graphics and put the wrong guy's name on it," he mentioned. "We win. We're the worst ever to do it."