“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,” the 53-year-old, who has performed a really public-facing function as UFC president since 2001, advised the web site. “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 s— together. We’ve got three kids. 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. Obviously, since the video popped up, we’ve shown the kids the video and we’re more focused on our family right now.”
In his feedback, White referred to remarks he made in 2014, shortly after video emerged of former NFL participant Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee.
“There’s one thing that you never bounce back from, and that’s putting your hands on a woman,” White stated then (by way of MMA Fighting). “Been that way in the UFC since we started here. You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.”
“The video is horrifying. Absolutely horrifying,” he added on the time. “You’re talking about a guy who’s been in the fight business since he was 19 years old. It is the most disturbing thing you will ever see. … I don’t know all the ins and outs of what [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell did or knew or how it was handled, but it’s definitely bad.”
A spokesman for the UFC didn’t instantly reply Tuesday night time to a request for touch upon the video. Endeavor, the corporate that owns the UFC, didn’t instantly present remark earlier within the day (per CNBC).
In partnership with the UFC and different entities, White is the founding father of a slap combating league. A TV sequence based mostly on the enterprise, “Power Slap,” is set to debut on TBS subsequent week. According to promotional clips for the sequence, it seems that the present will characteristic ladies slapping ladies, in addition to males slapping males.
“The sport of slap fighting is about to go to a whole new level,” White said at a news convention final month.
Of the current incident in Mexico, White advised TMZ Sports: “You don’t put your hands on a woman, ever. … There definitely was a lot of alcohol involved, but that’s no excuse. I’m making no excuses for this thing at all. It’s never happened before — it’s the first time that it’s ever happened.”
White stated what was seen within the almost minute-long video was “the beginning of it and the end of it.”
“I don’t know why it happened,” he added.
In an announcement supplied to TMZ Sports, Anne White echoed a few of her husband’s feedback, saying: “Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years. 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.”