UFC’s Dana White: My punishment for slapping wife is ‘this is how I’m labeled now’

At a media event to promote this weekend’s UFC Fight Night, company president and figurehead Dana White spoke to the media and addressed the fallout from the TMZ video that showed both he and his wife exchanging slaps on New Year’s Eve.

During his 13-minute talk, he continued to own up to what he did, saying there is no excuse and that the incident “is something I am going to have to deal with and live with for the rest of my life.”

White and his wife, Anne, were on vacation in Mexico on New Year’s Eve and got into a verbal altercation that then turned physical when she slapped him and he then slapped her twice. The video went viral on TMZ with White giving an interview to the outlet shortly afterward. He said they were both heavily intoxicated but there was no excuse for what he did.

Asked about whether there would be repercussions internally for his action such as a suspension, White said there wouldn’t be and that him leaving would only would hurt the company, his employees, and the fighters. 

“(A leave) doesn’t hurt me,” he said. “Do I need to reflect? I don’t need to reflect,” he said. “I’m telling you I’m wrong.”

White later said, “There are a lot of things I will have to deal with for the rest of my life that are way more of a punishment than, what, I take a 30-day or 60-day absence? That’s not a punishment to me. My punishment is that I did it and now I have to deal with it.”

He said there were discussions internally with Endeavor head Ari Emanuel and ESPN and that “no one was happy about this.” He said as of now, there has been no financial hit from sponsors or otherwise.

“My punishment is I got to walk around for as long as I live….this is how I’m labeled now. My other punishment is that I’m sure a lot of people — media, fighters, friends, acquaintances — who had respect for me might not have respect for me now,” he said.

He also asked anyone defending him to stop as “there is no defense for this.” He said all the criticism he has got and will get is warranted, even from some of his harshest critics.

“You don’t get to bounce back from this. For the rest of my life, people are going to label me that. I get it. I did it,” he said.

He said he and his family finished the vacation and are doing good. His oldest son “isn’t happy with us” and that it’s embarrassing for their family.

Despite speculation, White reiterated that physical violence between the two has never happened before, nor with any female other than his sister when they were growing up.

After it was pushed back by a week, a reality show about White’s new Power Slap league is still set to debut next Wednesday after AEW Dynamite on TBS