I don't really think I have to say it, but I'm not and have never considered myself a real journalist. I've never claimed to be and likely never will. However, the failure of a lot of real journalists have put me in a strange spot. No one reads this blog or comes to me for the hard hitting news, but those that we do go to in these situations have dropped the ball in my opinion, so I feel like I have to do my part, regardless of how small that may be. I think the video dropped about a week ago now where we saw cell phone video of Dana White and his wife, Anne, trading slaps in a bar/club. This story has gone on a bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of media attention as it was put on the back burner after the horrible situation on Monday Night Football with Damar Hamlin. Luckily, Damar's condition has been improving and we even have a screenshot of him smiling on a facetime call now. That has allowed us to return to a sense of normalcy and get back to this story. It's hard to talk about this and not want to branch off in a million different directions about what it means for the UFC, what it means for Dana, and what it could mean for MMA as a sport. There are several people having those discussions and they're doing a great job of it, but that isn't the way I wanted to go about it, at least not right now. There is plenty of time in the coming days, weeks, and months for those discussions and maybe I'll even do some of that myself.
There have been a lot of different reactions to that video since it came out, but my first reaction is to hope that Anne is truly ok. Obviously, I hope that she is physically ok from the slap and didn't sustain any injuries from the slap and whatever happens after the video ends, but also emotionally. I'm no expert and not an insider either, but I find it hard to believe that the first time a couple gets violent with each other would be in public. I hope that Anne isn't a victim of abuse over a long period of time and that she is getting the help and care she needs no matter the case. I think that is ultimately the most important part of this story and needs to remain at the front of all discussions.
Beyond that is where the story can sort of divulge. I'm not going to discuss every nook and cranny of this story as I don't want this to be an entire novel, but the next place I want to go is that Dana White is unequivocally in the wrong here. I'm not sure why that needs to be said, but apparently it does as there are far too many people who seem to believe that he was actually in the right here. We can see clearly in the video that Anne slaps him first, which she shouldn't have done, but that doesn't absolve Dana in the slightest. No one should be physical with their romantic partner in any situation, let me make that very clear, but the order that the slaps occur really doesn't mean anything to me. Whether he was slapped first or not, Dana shouldn't be hitting his wife, or any woman, for any reason. Apparently that is some sort of controversial opinion, at least in some circles of MMA fandom. I haven't seen the details of what exactly was going on to cause the situation and I don't really care to know them. Someone should have been the adult in the room. Anne shouldn't have slapped Dana, but answering that wrong with a wrong of his own isn't acceptable. Two wrongs don't make a right. Dana could and should have been the adult and deescalated the situation and he chose not to. That isn't anyone else's fault and not something that an apology via TMZ fixes.
The final thing that I wanted to say is that the coverage of this, on a national level, is a bit uncomfortable, to say the least. In our little MMA world, plenty of people have been and continue to be very critical of Dana and call for some sort of action. However, we know MMA is still sort of a niche topic that only gets talked about by the national media sparingly. For the president of the company to publicly attack his wife and it to only get shoulder shrugs by national media is a bit curious. A lot of people seemingly hide behind the idea that it is a private family matter that they're handling on their own, but I'm not buying it. We've seen people suffer significantly greater consequences based on far less evidence than what we have here, but because it's Dana, I guess nothing is going to happen. In particular, ESPN's lack of care about this disappointing. I think everyone in the world, and especially MMA fans, know that the more valuable someone is or the more money someone has, the more they can get away with. That isn't a foreign concept to MMA, sports at large, or the the world in general. However, to do what he did without as much as a statement condemning his actions from anybody is just disappointing and that's really the word I keep coming back to. Seeing the video of Stephen A. Smith and the rest of the First Take crew being so apologetic for him is just so odd to watch. The whole concept of the show and a large part of the on screen persona that Stephen A. has built is that they eviscerate athletes over mundane mistakes and make a big deal out of everything. They've been making Russell Westbrook's turnovers and missed free throws in meaningless regular season games a topic of conversation weekly for like two years now. However, whenever it's the UFC, who ESPN is directly in business with, I guess things suddenly become not a big deal anymore. Molly Qerim saying that they don't judge people at their lowest moment is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. The entire show is built upon judging those at their lows. Stephen A celebrates like he won the lottery every time the Dallas Cowboys lose a game, but now they don't judge people when they're down? What makes it so strange is that they, and everyone else at ESPN, won't say anything negative about him. I'm not asking them to sit there and pound the desk and say that Dana should be removed and spend life in prison or anything of the sort, but they can't be bothered to even say that he is wrong. I don't even know what reason they have to defend him so strongly? What's the incentive? I can at least comprehend why some of the smaller people at ESPN don't speak up because they don't want to potentially face repercussions for speaking out against a partner, but Stephen A? What are they going to do? Fire him? He's their most well known personality at this point and they use him to cover everything. The lengths they've gone to not say a bad word about the guy has gone so far as to seem very strange.
Look guys. I'm not here to tell you that I have all of the answers. I'm not suggesting that I even know what his punishment should be. I'm not going to sit here and demand that Dana lose his job or be cast into exile. I'm not boycotting the UFC or trying to imply that I will. However, I would like to see something, literally anything. A response in some form or fashion. Even a statement from Endeavor. Literally just something. Anything to show that this isn't acceptable and isn't condoned. Guess I'm just asking for too much.
Clearly, Dana knows that nothing is going to be done as he's back to his regularly scheduled programming. He's back eating bologna pie and hanging out with the Nelk Boys as if nothing every happened. Power slap is pushed back one week. I suspected that nothing would happen and I guess I was right. This is what the UFC generally does in these situations and just waits for the news cycle to bring the next story. It's served them well in a sense that they've avoided taking responsibility for a lot of things, but I guess I just want a bit of accountability. I get that I'm not the biggest Dana White fan, so maybe this will just get chalked up to me being biased, but I really don't see it that way. Dana did great things for the UFC at a time when the company, and the sport of MMA as a whole, needed him the most. However, I don't think he's the guy that the sport or the UFC needs in 2023. This is completely in line with the character that he's shown for years. He's been a guy that when anyone disagrees with him, he just tries to bully his opinion onto everyone else. It's not surprising to see him being a bully in other contexts as well. At the end of the day, I don't think anyone was all that surprised to see something like this from him and I think even less people are surprised that nothing has happened because of it.
I think that is where I want to stop on this topic for now. To wrap it up, I want to bring the conversation back to Anne and her general well being. Again, I hope that she hasn't suffered any injuries in that altercation or any others that we don't know about. I hope that she has mentally come to grips with what happened (or will come to grips sometime in the future as we're still not that far removed from the incident) and that it isn't something that will hold her back in some way. Her health and safety is obviously the most important thing in this situation. All of our MMA stuff takes a back seat to that. Oh and I almost forgot, good on Dustin Poirier for being the voice of reason here. Dustin being a great guy isn't surprising as that is always the guy we've known him to be, but this is just the latest example of it.
I normally ask for your guys thoughts at the end of these, but not this time. I just wanted to give my thoughts on this situation and say what I thought needed to be said. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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