Veteran voice of the Octagon Bruce Buffer announced the wrong winner after Marcin Tybura vs. Tyrell Fortune at UFC Seattle. The bizarre sequence of events unfolded during the preliminaries at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Saturday, March 28.
A disappointed Tyrell Fortune quickly left the Octagon after Bruce Buffer announced his debut defeat. However, he was quickly called back as bizarre scenes unfolded at the Climate Pledge Arena. Fortune (18-3) defeated Marcin Tybura (27-10) by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Seattle, via judges' scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
But confusion reigned when UFC cage announcer Bruce Buffer initially read the scores in favour of Tybura. Fortune left the Octagon and was making his way back to the tunnel, when UFC officials caught the error and summoned him back into the arena, where he was announced the winner. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for the mix-up," Buffer said. "The scoring is 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 to the winner by unanimous decision, Tyrell Fortune."
The incident carried extra weight given the context of Fortune's fight. Longtime Bellator MMA heavyweight Tyrell Fortune arrived in the UFC on Saturday, taking on a ranked opponent in Marcin Tybura at UFC Seattle. With two weeks' notice, he had agreed to step in on short notice. The former NCAA Division-II national champion wrestler has taken a long path to this point, including a near-death incident during his amateur wrestling career in 2012, in which he was pronounced dead after suffering health complications during a weight cut.
Fortune's reaction reflected the emotional whiplash of the moment. When UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier spoke with Fortune in the cage after his debut win was eventually confirmed, he asked: "Did you have a heart attack?" "Bro, I was so upset with myself," Fortune replied.
The mistake represents a rare stumble for Buffer, whose voice has anchored UFC broadcasts for more than two decades. It's unclear if Buffer read the wrong fighter when reading the scorecards or if the judges marked the wrong winner on the cards. What began as a tense moment of ambiguity ended as an awkward but ultimately correctable error, leaving Fortune with an unforgettable debut that will be remembered as much for the announcement confusion as the fight itself.