It happened. UFC president Dana White slapped his wife in the face. This isn’t something we have to wonder about. It happened, and the ugly incident was caught on video.
You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.
The footage, released Monday by TMZ, shows White and his wife, Anne, in the middle of an apparent argument at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on New Year’s Eve. After 5 seconds, the video cuts to Anne looking distressed with her hands covering her face. As White approaches, she tries to walk away, but he grabs her by the wrist.
You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.
That’s when Anne slapped her husband. And at that moment, White made a cowardly choice.
You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.
White slapped her in the face, slapped her a second time, and then pushed her to the ground like she was some punk off the streets and not the mother of his three children.
You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.
In an interview with TMZ, White acknowledged his actions. He essentially chalked it up as a heated moment that boiled over between two people who have known each other since childhood. Alcohol also played a factor.
“I’m one of the guys, you heard me say for years: There’s 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 almost 12 years old. We’ve obviously been through some sh*t together, and we’ve got three kids, and this is one of those situations that’s horrible.
“I’m embarrassed, but it’s also one of those situations where 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. People are going to have their opinions on this. Most of the people’s opinions will be right – especially in my case. You don’t put your hands on a woman ever. My wife and I obviously love each other. We’ve been together for a very long time. We’ve known each other since we were very little, and this is just one of those unfortunate situations.”
White owning up to the domestic violence against his wife is a start, but what comes next? The answer to that question may lie within the statement issued by Anne as part of the release of the TMZ video.
Dana White's wife Anna issued a statement on their New Year's Eve altercation in Mexico.
Full story: https://t.co/jnBWNMHw4r pic.twitter.com/oahjn7S9qX
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) January 3, 2023
“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. We’ve talked this through as a family and apologized to each other. I just hope people will respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.”
How could anyone take that statement other than with a grain of salt? It obviously was intended to protect White by downplaying the situation. Oh, it was “out of character,” and “nothing like this has ever happened before”? If you say so.
At the time of this writing, some 48 hours since the video was released, both the UFC and Endeavor, the UFC’s parent company, have remained silent. The UFC hasn’t bothered to issue a statement doing the most basic decent thing, which would be to condemn White’s domestic violence. Then again, the UFC regularly remains silent every time one of its fighters commits an act of domestic violence (see: Jon Jones, Mike Perry, and many others); saying nothing now is right on brand.
Seriously, will White face any serious consequences? Hey, TBS, maybe don’t proceed with televising White’s Power Slap League next week?
White deserves to lose his job. In fact, he should probably resign. If this was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell or NBA commissioner Adam Silver or MLB commissioner Rob Manfred we were talking about, that’s almost certainly how it would play out. But since this is MMA, well, I guess a certain level of tolerance for unsanctioned violence outside the cage should be expected – even when it’s a man roughing up a woman.
Pathetic.
In White’s own words from 2014, “There’s one thing that you never bounce back from, and that’s putting your hands on a woman. Been that way in the UFC since we started here. You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.”
There you go. If Dana White isn’t severely punished for slapping his wife, what are we even doing?
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can contact the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
