UFC president Dana White said Monday that he’s embarrassed by his actions following a physical altercation with his wife on New Year’s Eve in Mexico that was caught on camera.
The video shows White and his wife, Anne, talking before the two get into an argument. She then slaps him on the face, and White reacts by slapping her back before the two are separated as the argument continues.
“There’s never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman,” White told TMZ. “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 shit 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 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.”
The UFC president added that it’s the first time he and his wife have gone through a situation like this.
“There was definitely a lot of alcohol involved, but that’s no excuse,” White said. “I literally am 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 is deserved. I deserve it. It happened. I don’t know why it happened.”
He continued, “My wife and I have apologized to each other. We’ve apologized to our kids, and this is one of those things that everybody is going to chime in. I could care less what anybody 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.”
Anne also addressed the incident, saying her husband’s actions were “out of character for him.”
“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.”
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