UFC president Dana White made a surprise appearance this week at the UFC Fight Night media event.
White, in the headlines for his altercation with his wife on New Year’s Eve, addressed the situation.
The 53-year-old was filmed slapping his wife in the nightclub’s VIP section in response to her hitting him.
“The focus is on (the fighters),” White said. “These guys have trained hard and gotten ready for this fight. What happened on New Year’s Eve is mine. My mistake. Not theirs.
“One thing I do want to clarify in this thing that I didn’t talk about on TMZ, because I didn’t expect it or I didn’t see it coming, is the people that are defending me. There’s never an excuse. There’s no defense for this, and people should not be defending me, no matter what. All the criticism I’ve received this week is 100 percent warranted.”
White also discussed any sort of punishment that would be handed down, instead saying that living with the situation was punishment enough.
“Here’s my punishment: I have to walk around for however long I live – and this is how I’m labeled now. My other punishment is that I’m sure a lot of people – whether it be media, fighters, friends, or acquaintances who had respect for me might not have respect for me now. There’s a lot of things I have to deal with the rest of my life that’s way more of a punishment than, what, I take a 30-day or 60-day absence?”
Thanks to ESPN for the quotes.
