NFL
By: Zachary Draves
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White is trying to have his cake and eat it too after being caught on video physically assaulting his wife Anne at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on New Year’s Eve. On January 2nd, TMZ released the video which show the two in a heated exchange. Then White grabbed his wife’s wrist, she slapped him in the face to get away, and then he slapped her twice in the face before a group of bystanders jumped in.
Neither White nor Anne are facing legal action for the incident.
(Courtesy: Denise Truscello/WireImage)
On the same day the video was released, White talked to TMZ and issued an apology.
“You’ve heard me say over the years, ‘There is never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman,’ and now here I am on TMZ talking about it,” he said. “My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years. We’ve known each other since we were 12 years old. We’ve obviously been through some s— together. We’ve got three kids.
It is the irony of ironies that a man who spoke out against domestic violence in the past is now engaging in the same behavior.
(Courtesy: ZHE JI/GETTY IMAGES)
Then during a press conference last Wednesday, he got confrontational with reporters who asked him about what the repercussions should be for his behavior.
“What should the repercussions be? You tell me,” he said. “I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me? Me leaving hurts the company, hurts my employees, hurts the fighters. It doesn’t hurt me. What is my punishment? Here’s my punishment: I have to walk around for however long I live and this is how I’m labeled now. The punishment is that I did it, and now I have to deal with it.”
Immediately he made it all about himself.
This comes a time when pressure is starting to mount for White to be fired. The California Legislative Women’s Caucus published an open letter to Ari Emanuel, CEO of the media company Endeavor which owns UFC, demanding that White step down.
The likelihood of that occurring will be when pigs start to fly. The reason being is that unlike other sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.), UFC has no group of owners, promoters, or a union that can put pressure on White. He is the sole face and voice of the entity and therefore he sets all the laws and bylaws.
In other words, he has all the power and can do whatever he wants with it.
It is that mentality along with his clear lack of accountability, the absence of acknowledging his wife’s well-being, total self-aggrandizement, and his hyperactive evasiveness of legitimate questions by reporters that showcase a man who demonstrates many of the qualities that are found in domestic abusers.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCAD), there is no such thing as a typical abuser. Abusers come from all backgrounds, class statues, and professions, but they display similar characteristics. Among those include demeaning the victim in public, verbal abuse, a bad temper, and exerting power and control, all of which White committed in the video.
“He grabbed her wrist and initiated the physical assault, which led her to strike out to get away,” said Rita Smtih, Anti-Violence expert and former President of NCAD. “He hit her multiple times immediately, which indicates to me he has no qualms of responding with violence and may very well be an action he engages in whenever he is angry with her.”
There is no full understanding of the nature of White’s relationship with Anne, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if this wasn’t the first time something like this happened. Acts of domestic violence occur more than once and it takes place within the context of a cycle of abuse.
There is an explosive episode, such as the one on New Year’s Eve, then there is a period of supposed calm and remorse on the part of the abuser, and then there are telltale signs of increase tension and subtle threats. Finally, culminating in yet another explosion and then it begins all over again.
White is now trying manipulate, another abusive tactic, the public into thinking that he has learned his lesson and it is back to business as usual, so no suspension needed.
(Courtesy: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)
“To have an impact on actions that hurt others, suspension or other responses by sports entities must hold weight on the person being punished, “ says Smith. “UFC clearly has no intention of doing anything to respond to this assault and both the association and White are waiting for the media attention to stop.”
This also hasn’t stopped him from promoting his new venture, the sickeningly ironic “Power Slap League”. The league was supposed to air on TBS on January 11 before the incident. After a delay, it is now scheduled to start on Wednesday January 18.
During a UFC Vegas 67 post-fight press conference on Saturday, White said in promoting the league that “it’s insanely entertaining, and people are gonna like it. We pushed it back a week because I was supposed to do a whole media tour, which obviously wasn’t going to happen when I got back [from Mexico].”
According to Smith, this statement further establishes White’s priorities.
“His assertion that his ironically named new promotion Power Slap League is “insanely entertaining” shows he has not learned anything helpful during this time after he assaulted his wife” she said.
For over twenty years, Dana White has become the new Vince McMahon in the sense that he has constructed a protective bubble for himself and only himself. Where he operates by his own set of rules to where all that matters is putting out an exciting product that millions of fans will regularly consume. As long as he does that, he can give himself a tap on the wrist.
What he doesn’t seem to get is that bubbles eventually will burst.
