Dana White Caught Slapping Wife on New Year’s Eve
In a video obtained by TMZ, UFC president Dana White was seen slapping his wife, Anne, at a New Year’s Eve party in Cabo, Mexico.
You can watch the video for yourself, but it is quite damning. In the video, the couple can be seen exchanging words when Anne strikes Dana with a slap. Dana then delivers two slaps of his own. The altercation is then quickly broken up by bystanders.
Eyewitnesses added that the Whites appeared to be heavily intoxicated during the incident. Dana and Anne confirmed this in separate statements.
The altercation was quickly resolved and the pair continued their vacation together.
In an interview with TMZ, White quickly responded to the incident by owning up to his mistakes and stating that there are no excuses for his actions.
“You’ve heard me say over the years, ‘There is never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman,’ and now here I am on TMZ talking about it,” White said. “My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years. We’ve known each other since we were 12 years old. We’ve obviously been through some s— together. We’ve got three kids.
“This is one of those situations that’s horrible, I’m embarrassed – but it’s also one of those situations that right now we’re more concerned about our kids. We have three kids and obviously, since the video popped up, we’ve shown the kids the video and we’re more focused on our family right now.
“There was definitely a lot of alcohol involved, but that’s no excuse,” White said. “I literally am making no excuses for this at all. It’s never happened before. It’s the first time that it’s ever happened, and people are going to say what they’re going to say. It is what it is, and whatever people do say is deserved. I deserve it. It happened. I don’t know why it happened.“
White will likely face loads of criticism over this incident — and rightfully so. Domestic violence is a serious issue and White now holds that reputation among many others. To pair with that, White has been outspoken against others that have committed domestic abuse. The most notable is his criticism of former UFC champion Jon Jones, who has been involved in serious legal issues in the past.
Anne also provided a statement to TMZ regarding the altercation where she stated these actions were out of character.
“Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years,” Anne said. “To say this is out of character for him is an understatement — nothing like this has ever happened before. Unfortunately, we were both drinking too much on New Year’s Eve and things got out of control, on both sides.
According to MMAFighting, police were not involved in the altercation.
White is not currently facing any official punishment from the UFC parent company, Endeavor. Although, they have yet to comment on the incident. If White faces punishment it will come at a later time.
***
