After video surfaced of Dana White appearing to strike his wife during an argument in a nightclub on New Year's Eve, the UFC president has issued a statement stating there is "no excuse" for his actions.
TMZ published a video of the altercation, with White and his wife, Anna White, appearing to argue before Anna struck her husband, leading Dana to strike her back multiple times. The situation took place at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
"I'm in Cabo, Mexico, for the holidays with my family and my wife and I were out with family on New Year's Eve, and unfortunately that's what happened," White told TMZ. "I'm one of the guys, you 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. My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years. We've known each other since we were almost 12 years old. We've obviously been through some s--- together and we've got three kids, and this is one of those situations that's horrible.
"I'm embarrassed, but it's also one of those situations where we're more concerned about our kids. We have three kids, and obviously since the video popped up, we've shown the kids the video and we're more focused on our family right now. People are going to have their opinions on this. Most of the people's opinions will be right -- especially in my case. You don't put your hands on a woman ever. My wife and I obviously love each other. We've been together for a very long time. We've known each other since we were very little and this is just one of those unfortunate situations."
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White would go on to say there was "definitely a lot of alcohol" but that the alcohol was not an excuse. He also stated that anything said about him was "deserved."
Anna White also released a statement on the situation.
"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."
