UFC president Dana White was caught on camera in a physical altercation with his wife on New Year’s Eve, and has spoken out about the incident.
The incident took place at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. In an interview, White said he takes responsibility for his part in the incident.
TMZ published a video Monday of White and wife Anna, apparently in an argument at Squid Roe nightclub, reportedly with family members. According to eyewitnesses who spoke with TMZ, Anna slapped her husband, and White slapped her back before they were separated.
“I’m in Cabo, Mexico, for the holidays with my family and my wife and I were out with family on New Year’s Eve, and unfortunately that’s what happened,” White told TMZ. “I’m one of the guys, you 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 almost 12 years old. We’ve obviously been through some (expletive) together and 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 where 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 and we’re more focused on our family right now. People are going to have their opinions on this. Most of the people’s opinions will be right – especially in my case. You don’t put your hands on a woman ever. My wife and I obviously 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 said the clash with his wife was alcohol-fueled and claimed he doesn’t ‘remember a lot” about the lead-up and fallout of the confrontation. White said he remains in Mexico with his family, and he’s discussed the fallout with Anna, as well as his three children.
“There was definitely a lot of alcohol, but there’s no excuse,” White said. “I’m literally making no excuses for this thing 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, it’s deserved. I deserve it. It happened. I don’t know why it happened and my wife and I have apologized to each other, we’ve apologized to our kids, and this is one of those things that everyone is going to chime in. I could care less what people think about this. We’re more concerned about our kids and taking care of our family.”
TMZ also received a statement from Anna, who shared her side of the incident and came to White’s defense in his stance that physical confrontations between them are not a common occurrence.
“Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years,” Anna said in the statement. “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.”
It is not known if there is any police involvement from Mexican authorities. UFC representatives declined MMA Junkie’s request for comment about the situation beyond White’s interview with TMZ.
MMA Junkie also made requests for comment to UFC parent company Endeavor, television partners Disney and ESPN, as well as TBS, the television partner of White’s Power Slap league, but did not receive an immediate response.