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UFC's Dana White won't face punishment for slapping wife
UFC president Dana White during weigh ins for UFC 274 at the Arizona Federal Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

UFC boss Dana White won't face punishment over New Year's Eve incident

UFC boss Dana White said he won't face punishment from the promotion or from parent company Endeavor over the much-publicized New Year’s Eve slapping incident involving his wife.

"What should the repercussions be? You tell me," White said during the media day for the upcoming UFC Fight Night event, per Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting. "I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me?"

White added he has "had plenty of discussions internally" with ESPN, the UFC's broadcast partner, and with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. The 53-year-old insisted that "nobody’s happy about this," but he also suggested he's merely doing what's best for the promotion by staying put. 

"Me leaving hurts the company, hurts my employees, hurts the fighters," White said. "It doesn’t hurt me. I could have left in 2016. I don’t know. Do I need to reflect? No, I don’t need to reflect. The next morning when I woke up — you know what I mean? I’ve been against this. I’ve owned this. I’m telling you that I’m wrong." 

Last week, TMZ Sports released a video that showed White involved in a domestic incident with his wife, Anne, at a Cabo San Lucas nightclub during a New Year’s Eve event. Both Dana and Anne later told TMZ that consuming too much alcohol resulted in the two exchanging slaps. 

ESPN's Brett Okamoto pointed out that the California Legislative Women's Caucus has called for the removal of White as UFC president. 

"The head of a major sporting organization cannot claim to be for the safety of women while a video of him striking his wife continues to circulate online without a response from you," reads a portion of a letter sent to Emanuel that was shared on Monday. "The hypocrisy is astounding. Enough is enough."

Both Endeavor and ESPN have declined to comment on the matter and on White's status with the UFC. Outlets such as Awful Announcing have blasted White's business partners for not holding him accountable. 

"There’s a lot of things that I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life that are way more of a punishment than what, I take a 30-day [or a] 60-day absence? That’s not a punishment to me," White said during his comments. "The punishment is that I did it, and now I have to deal with it." 

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