UFC president Dana White slaps wife during New Year’s Eve altercation: ‘I don’t know why it happened’
Footage has emerged overnight, detailing a physical altercation between UFC president, Dana White, and his wife, Anne White at a nightclub event on New Years Eve, with the pair slapping each other during an argument and subsequent altercation.
In a video released by TMZ on Monday night, UFC leader, White can be seen speaking with his wife, Anne White a nightclub during the pair’s vacation in Cabo, Mexico, before she then raises her hands to cover her face. Grabbing his wife’s wrist, White is then slapped by his wife, before then immediately slapping her in the face himself. Soon thereafter, nearby friends and bystanders separate the two who continue to try and argue.
“My wife and I were out on Saturday night on New Year’s Eve, and unfortunately that’s what happened,” Dana White told TMZ during an interview addressing the altercation. “I’m one of the guys, you’ve heard me say for years, there’s never, ever an excuse for a 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 sh*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,” Dana White said. “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.”
Dana White and Anne White were described as being “heavily intoxicated” prior to the altercation
Furthermore, White revealed himself and his wife, Anne had been drinking during the night, with eyewitnesses claiming both were heavily intoxicated before the physical altercation took place.
“There was definitely a lot of alcohol involved, but that’s no excuse,” Dana White explained. “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,” White explained. “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 anyone 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 released, White’s wife, Anne addressed the altercation with her husband, claiming the entire event was “out of character” for the UFC president.
“Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years,” Anne White. “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,” Anne White explained. “I just hope people will respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.”
White further admitted that his alcohol consumption that night leaves the events of the altercation less than clear, before admitting how “embarrassing” the entire situation is.
“Obviously, it’s one of those situations, it’s embarrassing for both of us but what we’re more concerned about is our kids,” Dana White explained. “Nobody knows you better than your kids know you. They grow up in your house, 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?” White continued. “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.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
