UFC president Dana White was caught on camera slapping his wife
during a physical altercation that occurred on New Year’s Eve while
the couple was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
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Video of the incident was released by
TMZ Sports on Monday. White and his wife, Anne, were in the VIP
section at El Squid Roe, a local bar, when the UFC president
appeared to grab his wife by the wrist. Anne then slaps White, who
responds by slapping his wife in the face before the couple is
separated by others in the group.
White discussed the incident in an interview with TMZ.
“My wife and I were out on Saturday night on New Year’s Eve, and
unfortunately that’s what happened,” White said. “You’ve heard me
say for years, there’s never, ever an excuse for guy to put his
hands on a woman, and now here I am on TMZ talking about it. 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—t together. 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 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. We’re more focused on our family right
now. People are going to have opinions on this, and most of the
people’s opinions would be right, especially in my case. You don’t
put your hands on a woman ever. My wife and I 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.”
Witnesses told TMZ that alcohol seemed to fuel the incident, and
White admitted that drinking was involved that night.
“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.
“My wife and I have apologized to each other. We’ve apologized to
our kids, and this is one of those things where everybody is going
to chime in. I could care less what anybody else thinks about this.
Right now what we’re more concerned about are our kids and taking
care of our family.”
White confirmed that the incident lasted approximately a minute,
which matches the duration of the video.
“That was the beginning of it and the end of it,” he said. “We’re
still on vacation … We’re obviously best friends, she’s my wife and
we had too much to drink, and whatever happened that night
happened. That was it and it was done.”
White added that he didn’t recall much of the evening due to the
amount of alcohol that was consumed. Ultimately, White is primarily
concerned with how the incident will affect his family.
“I don’t remember a lot, no. Obviously, it’s one of those
situations, it’s embarrassing for both of us but what we’re more
concerned about is our kids,” White said. “Nobody knows you better
than your kids know you. They grow up in your house with you, they
see everything, they hear everything, they know everything.
“Everybody always asks me questions about do I care about this, do
I care about that? My legacy and all this other stuff with work
doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s all about your family. It’s about
your wife and kids. This situation, too, everybody’s going to have
an opinion. We’re just worried about our family and focused on our
kids right now. But me and my wife are cool, we’re good.”
Meanwhile, Anne White released a separate statement to TMZ Sports
claiming that the altercation was an isolated incident in the
marriage.
“Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years. To say this is
out of character for him is an understatement — nothing like this
has ever happened before,” she said. “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.”
Charges were not filed in relation to the incident, nor was it
necessary for security at the establishment to get involved. The
UFC has not commented on the situation, so it is currently unclear
if White will face any discipline for his part in the incident. The
UFC is slated to begin its 2023 calendar with UFC Fight Night 217
at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Jan. 14.