It’s not clear if Enrico Palazzo made an appearance at the Freedom Fight Night event Friday in Arizona, but whoever the singer was performing the Star-Spangled Banner left a lot to be desired.
In arguably the cringiest performance of the national anthem since Roseanne Barr took the mound at a San Diego Padres game in 1990, a singer at an event hosted by former UFC champion Tito Ortiz ended up apologizing after he tried and failed to make it through the song.
The promotion was founded by entrepreneur Harrison Rogers, who touts himself as “a lifelong MMA fan who sees America’s freedom’s being challenged and slipping away.” Also featured is Ortiz and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir as two high-profile fighters supporting his cause.
The attempt at singing the Star-Spangled Banner went wrong from the start when the singer started missing words, which led to him apologizing to Ortiz at cageside. He then managed to miss nearly every note he tried to hit during the performance.
At one point, the singer even stopped after missing a few words. He restarted as a confused and stoic crowd continued to watch as he attempted to make it through the song.
After the song was finished, the singer actually apologized for his performance.
The card itself boasted teams coached by a pair of local legends in Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader and ex-UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Chances are either one of them could have probably done a better job singing the National Anthem.