UFC Catches More Heat for AI-Generated Conor McGregor Promo Ahead of UFC 329

The UFC dropped a new promo for McGregor vs Holloway at UFC 329 this week and the response was predictable. Fans called it AI slop, again.

More AI Use from UFC Ahead of UFC 329 

This isn't anything new at this point. Promotional content generated by the UFC’s AI has been criticized since the spring, when the first Freedom 250 promo dropped with AI voiceovers and imagery.

The criticism didn’t put a stop to any of it. If anything, the UFC leaned even further into the AI gimmick. 

With Conor McGregor’s comeback fight just five days out, the latest batch of promos has simply renewed the same complaints with the expectation that Soundcloud commenters think the sport’s biggest star deserves better than whatever the algorithm can come up with.

The Problem Isn't New

The first major wave of backlash came when the UFC released its Freedom 250 promotional package back in April. Dana White admitted on the Katie Miller Podcast that the entire promo was AI-generated. "The whole promo is AI," Dana said. "Even my voice isn't my real voice."

Fans weren't thrilled. UFC lightweight Renato Moicano called it "brain rot." Darren Till went at the promotion publicly about its declining creative quality. The criticism was loud and it came from every direction.

Dana White's response at a press conference was blunt. "Who gives a s***?" Dana said. "Shut the f*** up and watch the fights."

UFC executive producer Craig Borsari took a more measured approach, telling Bloody Elbow that "the way we look at AI is not a substitute for content creation, but rather a way to amplify it."

UFC 329 Poster Made it Worse

When the official UFC 329 poster dropped in June, McGregor didn't even look like himself. Fans immediately noticed. The poster had the standard faceoff layout but McGregor's features were visibly distorted in a way that screamed AI manipulation.
"Return of the biggest star in the sport on international fight week and we're getting AI slop version of two fighters facing off on generic background," journalist Conner Burks wrote on X. The tweet went viral and thousands of fans piled on.

For a promotion that built its brand on cinematic production quality and movie level promos, the shift to AI-generated content feels like a step backward. The UFC used to set the standard for sports promotion. The embedded series, the countdown shows and the Primetime specials.

Those were the gold standard. Now the biggest comeback in MMA history is being promoted with synthetic voices and algorithmically generated visuals.

Dana White Doesn't Care

Dana White couldn’t care less if you don’t like the AI promos. He’s convinced they’re the future of fight promotion, and objections from fans probably won’t do much to alter that course. To Borsari, it’s an evolution, one that lets the UFC tap into data it’s been collecting for years.

To old school fans who grew up on Jon Anik voiceovers and real footage with real emotion, this just doesn't feel the same.

The irony is what's funny here. Conor McGregor just opened up about getting lost in fame and reconnecting with who he really is. The whole narrative around his return is about authenticity. But the UFC is promoting it with AI-generated content that looks and sounds like nothing a human would create.

McGregor's comeback against Holloway on July 11 is one of the most anticipated fights in recent memory. He'll be coming back after five years away from the cage for a rematch 13 years in the making. The story tells itself.

Whether the promotional material around it needs to be AI-generated is a question the UFC has answered clearly.

"Who gives a s***?" Dana said.