UFC President Dana White apologized for hitting his wife during a New Year’s Eve celebration at a club in Mexico. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
Dana White’s life changed forever on the night of December 31, 2022 when he decided to punch his wife Anne in the face while the couple was celebrating New Year’s Eve in Mexico.
Of all the good that White has done in this world — he has served on numerous charities, created thousands of jobs, gone out of his way in private to help dozens of needy, sick, and unlucky people — he has much of that was undone when he decided to hit back after his wife hit him the first time.
The two words no man would ever want appended to his name — domestic violence — will follow him forever. It will be in the countless biographies that will eventually be written about him. He will be mocked on social media for the rest of his life. It will appear in news articles and on Wikipedia, and he will lose the respect of many of his fans who looked up to him as he turned the UFC into a global sports powerhouse.
He has been married to Anne White for 30 years and has known her for more than 40 years. And even White knows he was wrong.
In a public apology to TMZ on Monday, White accepted responsibility for his actions, which was the least he could do.
“It’s one of those horrible situations,” he said. “That’s embarrassing.”
He should be embarrassed. It is a despicable act. And there is no excuse for that. The grainy video shows White holding his wife’s left wrist as she slaps him on the left side of his face with her right hand. He responds by hitting her with a right slap.
Domestic violence is a scourge of this world. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, nearly 20 people are abused by an intimate partner every minute in the United States. Astonishingly, one in four women and one in seven men has been the victim of severe domestic violence. Domestic violence hotlines receive more than 20,000 calls on a typical day.
Anne White released a statement saying the behavior was “out of character” for her husband.
The story goes on
“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. Unfortunately we both drank too much on New Year’s Eve and things got out of control, on both sides. We discussed this as a family and we apologized to each other. I just hope people respect our privacy for the sake of our children.”
The question is what circumstances led to this. White is famous, and he works and plays at a breakneck pace, leaving little downtime. For him it’s Go, Go, Go, both professionally and privately.
He’s 53 now, not 32, so it seems fair to ask why is he drunk in a public setting at a nightclub? He has traveled the world, seen so much, done so much and made friends with so many. One has to wonder what pressure he’s feeling as he tries to top what he’s already done, push the UFC even further into the mainstream and create another martial arts league.
For most of his adult life he has been working at near warp speed to build the UFC. There is still work to be done but he has a large and capable staff and it is no longer just a one man job or journey. It’s okay to slow down. It’s okay to relax and not feel the need to push anymore.
White made a mistake, and a significant one at that. He was scheduled to retire from the UFC for about a month not only to put things in order with himself and his family, but to find ways to lend his name to efforts to combat domestic violence. White has a rowdy pulpit and when he speaks, people listen. He is followed by 6.1 million people on Twitter and 7.8 million people on Instagram. He can reach many people.
So he should take a moment to get his personal life in order, ponder why he drunk slapped his wife in public, and most importantly, come up with a plan to send a message about the insidious nature of domestic violence. He doesn’t need to be on a podium now to promote fights.
Over the long term, White is critical to the success of the UFC. In the short term, however, there are many who can take his place while White figures out how to correct this mistake.
When he used a homophobic slur during a tirade against a reporter in 2009, he not only apologized but implemented an action plan. The UFC has since donated significant amounts of money to LGBTQ causes. Next to the WNBA, it is the most gay-friendly sport in the world.
In 2013, at the time the most significant fight in UFC history, White sent a lesbian woman, Liz Carmouche, into the main event. It’s big news in any other sport when an athlete comes out as gay, but in the UFC it’s commonplace because it’s so common.
White doesn’t deserve all the credit for that, but he deserves something. He helped create an environment in the UFC that helped remove that stigma.
He can do the same with domestic violence. On Tuesday, US men’s national coach Gregg Berhalter posted a statement on Twitter admitting to kicking his then-girlfriend and future wife Rosalind in 1991 at the age of 18.
In his tweetBerhalter provided details about the 1991 incident, the couple’s reconciliation seven months later, and how it has shaped it in the 31-plus years since.
“I’m sharing this story after 31 years because it’s important to understand that it was an event that shaped me but didn’t define me. It was a single, isolated event over three decades ago and a terrible decision made at a bad moment for an 18-year-old. … As a team, we emphasize accountability, honesty and growth. These are just principles we convey to the team; that’s how I live my life.”
In his statement, White acknowledged the mistake he had made. The world would be a better place if, like Berhalter, White was able to find a way not only to get away from the bug, but to help find ways to solve those committing this crime. It’s a nudge here and a smack there. Too many shrug it off as not a big deal. Only it does not stop and often leads to terrible results.
Nothing White says or any amount of money he throws into the matter will end it completely. This is an insidious problem in our culture that, unfortunately, is not going away.
But this incident at a club in Mexico involving White and his wife can make a difference, helping reduce the incidence of domestic violence and educating those living in abusive relationships that help is readily available.