UFC President Dana White has revealed what his punishment will be after his viral physical altercation with his wife on New Year’s Eve.
White and his wife, Anne, were caught on video having a fight at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico. After Anne smacked him, White responded by hitting his wife before other people separated the two sides.
White and his wife have since apologized to one another, with the two of them stating that their altercation was a one-time incident. They’ve been together for multiple decades and have children as well.
White and his wife also admitted that they were heavily intoxicated at the time of the fight.
In the aftermath of arguably the darkest moment of his UFC tenure, critics of White’s actions have pondered what the outcomes will be from the incident. This includes White self-imposing a suspension, or him stepping down from being UFC president entirely.
During a recent press conference, White explained why he won’t receive any formal repercussions after the incident with his wife.
“What should the repercussions be?” White said. “I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me? It’s much like COVID, actually. Me leaving hurts the company. Hurts my employees. Hurts the fighters. It doesn’t hurt me. I could’ve left in 2016…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.
“We’ve had plenty of discussions internally. With Ari, with ESPN. Nobody’s happy about this, neither am I. But it happened and I have to deal with it…
“I gotta walk around for however long I live…and this is how I’m labeled now. My other punishment: I’m sure a lot of people, whether they’re fighters, media, friends, acquaintances that had respect for me, might not have respect for me now,” White continued. “There’s a lot of things that I’ll have to deal with the rest of my life that are way more of a punishment than a 30, 60-day absence. That’s not a punishment, the punishment is that I did it.”
Some have called for White to step down from the UFC entirely, including the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. The Caucus wrote to Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel earlier this week asking for him to remove White from his position.
Dana White Addresses Supporters Of Wife Fight: Don’t Defend Me
White went on to address those who are defending his actions against his wife.
“One thing I do want to clarify in this thing, that I didn’t talk about on TMZ because I didn’t expect it and I didn’t see it coming, is the people that are defending me,” White said. “There’s never an excuse…there’s no defense for this and people should not be defending me over this thing, no matter what. All of the criticism that I’ve received this week is 100% warranted. And will receive in the future.”
UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley was recently in hot water after joking that White’s wife being slapped was justified. He went on to clarify his remarks as dark humor and not literal.
UFC light heavyweight Jamahal Hill also opined that White’s wife should also be held accountable for her actions during the incident.
White will likely be present for the UFC’s return this weekend at UFC Vegas 67. The promotion’s first pay-per-view of the year, UFC 283, takes place later this month in Rio de Janeiro, BR.
Whether or not White should be formally punished for his actions will continue to be debated, although it appears as if he’s already feeling the consequences of the incident.
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