Last week, UFC President Dana White found himself in hot water after video footage surfaced of him in a drunken, physical confrontation with his wife in a Cabo San Lucas nightclub.
It all happened shortly after midnight on New Year’s at Cabo’s El Squid Roe, where you can visibly see Dana’s wife of 28 years, Anne, slap him, and he proceeds to slap her right back.
She threw a few more slaps, and Dana proceeded to shove her away.
Will Smith was on every FYP & Timeline for months, but it is like crickets for Dana White.
Kathleen Finch & David Zaslav are quiet on domestic abuse, especially debuting Power Slap: Road to the Title.
Where are Patrick Whitesell & Ari Emanuel?pic.twitter.com/MpRGdNji2e
— Winyah Bay Publishing Company, Inc. (@WinyahBayPubCo) January 6, 2023
White has yet to receive a punishment from UFC, or anywhere else, and since he owns the company, he was recently asked in a press conference what his punishment should be.
And he responded saying that the reputational damage is punishment enough, and that taking some off of running the UFC is essentially a vacation for him:
“What should the repercussions be? You tell me. I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me?
Me leaving hurts the company, hurts my employees, hurts the fighters. It doesn’t hurt me. I could’ve left in 2016, you know what I mean?
Do I need to reflect? No, I don’t need to reflect… the next morning when I woke up. I’ve been against this, I’ve owned this… I’m telling you that I’m wrong.”
The 53-year-old also said he had discussions with Endeavor chief executive and UFC owner Ari Emanuel, along with ESPN over what happened:
“We’ve had plenty of discussions internally… with Ari, with ESPN, nobody’s happy. Nobody’s happy about this… neither am I. But it happened and now I have to deal with it.
What is my punishment? Here’s my punishment: I have to walk around for however long I live, is it 10.4 years or another 25 years, and this is how I’m labeled now…. the punishment is that I did it, and now I have to deal with it.”
Dana White says the only punishment that will come from slapping his wife will be in the public eye.
"This is how I'm labeled now."
Full interview: https://t.co/swwUo75xCD pic.twitter.com/F2svIyEHAu
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) January 11, 2023
He also noted that he wasn’t looking for excuses, and he takes complete ownership of the incident:
“There’s never an excuse… there’s no defense for this and people should not be defending me over this thing, no matter what.”
And needless to say, folks on Twitter aren’t too happy with White’s words:
“My punishment is not being punished”
— Tuafinity And Beyond (@FinsNFights) January 11, 2023
“Me leaving hurts the fighters”
Gonna have to disagree with Dana on that. There’s no doubt he’s important to the UFC but if he were to step down I think it’s fair to say the UFC would carry on as normal
— freshpoutine (@freshpoutinee) January 11, 2023
Why did he keep saying 30 days like that’s what anyone was asking for? Lol just quit bruh. Will help the fighters in the long run anyway
— Justen Shannon (@TheCannon916) January 11, 2023
too rich to be punished. ok understood
— Irieravelord (@Irieravelord710) January 11, 2023
I guess in the future when anyone does this… they should just use the same defense. How does firing me help anyone else?? Well… the answer is… IT SETS A STANDARD!! It says this behavior is completely unacceptable and their are consequences to your actions!!
— Ben Bridgeo (@Bridgegolf10) January 11, 2023
That this piece of garbage doesn't have the shit beat out of him on a Daily Basis speaks to how fucked up things are these days.
Dana White shouldn't be given a free pass, just because he's the face of a Mid Bloodsport League.https://t.co/5aYHseOZTi
— Murph (@MurphTTV) January 12, 2023
This a real sociopathic answer lmao https://t.co/72ZMRiyCWY
— KHALi 🛸 (@KhaliTheKing) January 12, 2023
LMFAO such a 🤡 so point is nothing is gon happen and business goes on as usual!!! Now imagine if this was Jon Jones!!!!!! https://t.co/pnVbwoXOLc
— RIP X (@YoungJocKai) January 12, 2023
According to CNN, on Monday, the California Legislative Women’s Caucus wrote a letter to Emanuel, asking for White to be replaced as president:
“Given Mr White’s previous remarks against domestic partner violence, we believed that Endeavor and the UFC shared this commitment to safety, respect and accountability.
And yet, we have seen the video of UFC president Dana White, where he strikes his wife at a New Year’s Eve celebration … We were appalled. It was alarming to say the least. In the days since the video was released, you have remained silent.
We are calling for the immediate removal of Mr White as president of UFC.”
Doesn’t sound like that’s happening anytime soon…
