UFC President Dana White apologized this week after video emerged showing him slapping his wife’s face on New Year’s Eve in a Cabo San Lucas nightclub.
The altercation between White and his wife, Anne, who have been married for 26 years, happened after he leaned over and said something to her. She then slapped him.
Dana responded by slapping her back, at which point onlookers rushed in to separate the couple.
TMZ reported that witnesses said the two “seemed heavily intoxicated prior to the violence.”
Dana responded to the incident in an interview with TMZ.
“You’ve heard me say over the years, ‘There is 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 12 years old. We’ve obviously been through some s— together. We’ve got three kids.”
“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,” he added. “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.”
“I’m literally making no excuses for this thing at all. It’s never happened before,” he continued. “It’s the first time it’s ever happened. People are going to say what they’re going to say and it is what it is. Whatever people say is deserved. I deserve it.”
WATCH:
What kind of scumbag hits his wife? pic.twitter.com/P6Jh1Ybv21
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 3, 2023
Anne also gave a statement to TMZ where she corroborated his claim that this type of incident has never happened before.
“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.”