The UFC and Media Partners Don't Seem To Care About Dana White's Act of Domestic Violence

In a 2014 interview, UFC President Dana White had this to say about domestic violence:

“You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.”

Nine years later, White, 53, was caught on camera slapping his wife, Anne, at a nightclub on New Year’s Eve.

You DON’T bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.

This happened less than six days ago–and I’d bet you a decent amount of cash that you’ve heard little to nothing about it. The little you have heard, I’m sure, was framed in such a way that made it seem like a little dustup.

Fox News released a story on January 6th, 2023, referring to the incident of domestic abuse as a mere “altercation.” ESPN’s hit daytime program “First Take” ran the headline “Dana White Apologizes,” rather than one that tells the story for what it really is: a cowardly man slapping a woman not once, but twice–and then having to be held back.

Immediately following the news, White was granted an interview with TMZ where he apologized for his actions. While he repeatedly stated there was “no excuse” for his actions, it seemed as if the two TMZ reporters were seemingly offering him “outs” and tossing him softball questions.

At one point in the interview, one of the men even stated that White was “at a place in Cabo where alcohol flows.” Later in the interview, the man even asked Dana if he “remembers it,” giving Dana the chance to blame his heinous acts on alcohol.

In response to these questions, White responded:

“There was definitely a lot of alcohol involved but that was no excuse.”

So, White is admitting to his wrongs and offering no excuses. He seems to be holding himself responsible for his actions, which is a small step in the right direction. But the question that’s been nagging at me since this story broke is: Why doesn’t the media seem to care?

Why aren’t we holding Dana White responsible? Why does he seem to be getting the kid glove treatment from everybody?

Is the media that afraid of Dana White? Listen, it’s no surprise to me that ESPN is shying away from this one, seeing as they’re a few years into a $1.5 billion contract with the UFC for exclusive streaming rights. While Brett Okamoto, ESPN’s main MMA Journalist, has written a story covering the altercation, the headline again raises questions.

“UFC’s Dana White apologies for physical altercation with wife.”

Notice how we mention the apology before we do anything else.

As I mentioned earlier, the topic was discussed on First Take by personality Stephan A. Smith, where he made it abundantly clear that there was no reason to put hands on a woman. However, after making that clear, he got right back to brown-nosing.

“Dana White is not just somebody I know in sports, he’s a friend,” Smith said. “I love him. He knows how wrong he was to do this and he knows we’re on-air, he knew ahead of time because I reached out to him to let him know I would be talking about this, this morning. He knows he crossed a line that he has never crossed before.”

It’s not often that I write about serious issues–after all, this is a gambling-focused site, so things like this are, frankly, a bit off-brand. That said, there are times that I feel like I need to put on my “Capital-J” journalism hat and really ask some hard questions.

You DON’T bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.

If that’s true, why does it seem like Dana White already has?