Dana White appeared at Wednesday’s media day and addressed the fallout after the video emerged of White slapping his wife.
Prior to Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas, White appeared in front of the media.
Before he was asked a question, White went into the incident and said that media day should focus on the fighters but called the New Year’s Eve incident where he slapped his wife Anne, “a horrible, personal experience, there’s no excuses for it, something I can going to have to deal with and live with for the rest of my life.”
White addressed those who have come out to defend him and said, “there is no excuse” and “people should not be defending me” and called all the criticism that has come his way “warranted”.
Reporter John Morgan inquired about any repercussions that White is facing. The UFC president asked how a 30-day suspension would hurt him. White said his leaving would hurt the company, the employees, and the fighters but doesn’t hurt him and he could have left in 2016 when Endeavor bought the promotion.
White said there have been internal discussions with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and ESPN and that “no one is happy” and neither is he. He said his punishment is that he has to walk around with this for the rest of his life and may not be respected.
When asked a follow-up about the timing of the launch of Power Slap, he said there is never good timing for an incident like this to occur and only called it “ironic”. TBS recently confirmed that the launch of Power Slap had been delayed by one week and it is set to air next Wednesday following AEW Dynamite.
He said they finished their vacation in Cabo San Lucas and reiterated that this has never happened before with his wife and has never put his hands on a woman before. White shared that his oldest son is not happy about this incident.
He was asked about issues with sponsors and damage to the company to which White said, “I don’t think so, but it’s still early.”
