Dana White and the UFC have a close relationship with ESPN, and a former star of the network is waiting to see how it reacts to White’s latest scandal.
The UFC president was caught on video getting into a physical altercation with his wife Anne at a New Year’s Eve party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, an altercation in which Anne punched White and culminated in White hitting Anne at least twice struck.
Dan LeBatard, a longtime ESPN anchor who departed from the network in 2021, spoke about the white incident on The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz, specifically questioning how much ESPN will cover the news given that it’s currently a broadcast partner of the UFC .
“I’m excited to see how ESPN will cover the news of Dana White and the video of him slapping his wife at the New Year’s celebrations,” LeBatard said. “Apologizing, saying there’s no apology, saying he’s been drinking. If it had been Roger Goodell or an NFL team owner, I would imagine it would be treated with much zeal, even though ESPN is a corporate affiliate of the NFL.
“In that case, Dana White is the most famous person in this sport, isn’t she? The sport’s most famous person even with all the fighters because he’s the face and voice of a sport. If not, he’s about to. It’s not even the crime, it’s the greatness of the criminal’s fame. How does ESPN cover that?”
Currently, White’s story tops the “Top Headlines” of ESPN’s MMA section, although it does not appear on ESPN’s front page as of this writing. The story was also covered in SportsCenter’s Tuesday night edition.
LeBatard wonders if the story could get more attention given the widely available video of the incident.
“Usually with these things, when there’s video and there’s mainstream media pressure, and ESPN is in the best position to apply mainstream media pressure — but they have an awkward relationship with Dana White, who’s the one journalist who who they had in this sport ran away, Ariel Helwani, and we came across it because Dana White is very powerful at ESPN,” LeBatard said. “How is this story treated? How should this story be treated?”
ESPN has been a broadcast partner of the UFC since 2018. ESPN signed a five-year deal with the promotion, which was extended for a further two years in 2019 as the UFC continues to provide a steady stream of live content for its television channels and the ESPN+ streaming service. White then signed a seven-year deal with the UFC to remain president of the organization.
One of LeBatard’s concerns is that a lack of mainstream media coverage could lead to a lack of accountability.
“This doesn’t stay in the news unless there’s media pressure,” LeBatard said. “There has to be media pressure, there has to be media outrage for this to have consequences. They are world leaders in sports and love to help make these things happen and they are compromised here by a business interest.
“I don’t think there will be consequences because there can be no consequences if the outrage doesn’t stay in one place.
“[White is] so powerful, so independent, and can even control the media monster he’s partnered with to some degree, that I don’t know what the ramifications will be of a video of you banging your wife at a party, her on the Back slapping because of the fight you got into. Regardless of your wife’s quotes saying how out of character it was, normally this video is hugely damaging to a power figure anywhere in sport. Everywhere in sports.
“But this guy works on a plane with his own outfit and a power that doesn’t come with a lot of governance. Who is there to punish him? And if it happened to Goodell or an owner – [White is] no commissioner – but if it had happened to Goodell or an owner do you think it would be quiet? Because I don’t. I can’t imagine it would be quiet if we had video of it.”