UFC President Dana White slaps wife multiple times during New Year’s Eve altercation
UFC President Dana White says that he is “embarrassed” by his actions after TMZ released footage of the longtime MMA businessman slapping his wife in public multiple times during a New Year’s Eve celebration in Mexico.
In a video released by TMZ on Monday, White can be seen talking to his wife Anne, who has her hands over her face before he grabs her wrist and she responds by slapping him in the face. White then reacts by slapping his wife in the face as other people in the group get between them while the argument continues.
“My wife and I were out on Saturday night on New Year’s Eve, and unfortunately that’s what happened,” White said. “I’m one of the guys, 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*** 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.”
White continued to disucuss the altercation, stating, “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. That was the beginning of it and the end of it. 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.”
In a separate statement issued to TMZ, Anne White backed up her husband’s statement, claiming he had never physically assaulted her prior to the incident that happened in Mexico.
“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.”
