Law&Crime Sidebar - Could UFC's Dana White Face Charges for Slapping Wife in Drunken Argument?

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

After a video showing Dana White and his wife slapping each other during a drunken argument surfaced online, many are wondering if the UFC president could face charges for the incident. The Law&Crime Network's Jesse Weber breaks it down with martial arts expert Steven Williams from "Steven Strangles People" on YouTube.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will

keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. What could or should be the repercussions for UFC President Dana White after he allegedly hit his wife? YouTuber and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Master Stephen Williams gets into it. welcome to sidebar presented by long crime i'm jesse weber dana white has been in the conversation recently and that is because white was captured on video allegedly slapping his wife and i'm going to give everybody a little bit more context here this happened at a nightclub in cabo san lucas mexico on new year's eve and in the

video it appears that white says something to his wife grabs her wrists and then she hits him and then he immediately responds back by slapping her. And then those around the two, seemingly try to move them apart. Now, Dana White has addressed encounter publicly. There's never an excuse. I'm sure you guys have read some of the same stuff that I've seen. There's no defense for this. And people should not be defending me over this thing, no matter what.

You know, all the criticism that I have received this week is 100% warranted. and it will receive in the future. And his wife even issued a statement, which says, quote, Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years. To say this is out of character for him is an understatement. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Unfortunately, we were both drinking too much on New Year's Eve and things got out of control on both sides.

We've talked this through as a family and apologized to each other. I just hope people will respect our privacy for the sake of our kids. Now, at the time of this recording, there have been no legal or career repercussion. for Dana White, and there's definitely been debate about what should be done here from ESPN analysts, chiming in. There's a level of accountability that people are craving for.

But who's going to exact that accountability? I don't know the answer to that question. It needs to be endeavor because he has a boss. And it has to be more severe from the simple fact that he's in a leadership role, he's the face of the company, and what comes with that. to even those in the MMA world like fighter Dustin Poyer. You should never put your hands on a woman.

I don't know. I don't know the repercussion that comes along with somebody at his stature, running these businesses and doing something like that. I have no clue. But what could be done or what should be done is the question. So let me bring in right now, Stephen Williams from the popular YouTube channel, Stephen Strangles People. Stephen holds an undefeated record in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the Black Belt level,

and he has produced champions in MMA, BJJ across multiple organizations, and he knows the ins and outs of the MMA and UFC world. Steven, thanks so much for coming here on Sidebar. Thanks for having me. So there have been no, again, at the time of this recording legal repercussions for Dana White, I'm curious what you think about that at this point. Do you think something should be done or could be done? Let's start there.

Well, the question is, like, what would get, done. Like if it was a legal repercussion, it would have to come from his wife. And we've now heard that that's not going to be the case. His wife is not going to press charges. From what I've heard, they've been through, they've been together since they were in high school. So I feel like if that's happened once, now this is just purely speculative, but it's probably happened before on some level, some sort of physical altercation. So she's been with him for a long time through the ups and downs. I don't see any legal repercussions happening. Now, if you ask what should happen, Well, I'll just jump in. I'll just jump in right there to talk to the law for a second.

So my understanding under a brief, remember, this happened in Mexico. So my understanding under Mexican law is it's really dependent upon the alleged victim to file a report and make a statement. And if that doesn't happen, which I haven't seen any evidence that Ann White has actually reported on her husband or filed a police report, this case basically, you know, just drop. Nothing really happens here. Again, the details are private. We're not 100% sure what's happening behind the scenes. but if there's no circumstance where Dana White is arrested in Mexico, we'll know why. You can take it from there.

Correct, correct. There's a layer above that which goes, well, what should happen to Dana in regards to his position as UFC president? Should he be stripped of that? Should he be fired? Should there be some sort of, I've heard people say it's like a 30-day respite where he's not allowed to work? And I don't know. I mean, it's been a tricky road because most of the fighters have kind of kept quiet about it for obvious reasons. I think a lot of them don't want to be implicated in this muddy, weird, very personal thing that has happened with Dana.

And a few fighters, as you said, like Dustin Boreer has openly said, like, it's disgusting what has happened. I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but it's not great what he's done. But yeah, what would happen? Should he just step down? I don't know if you saw the interview. He did a presser last weekend. So let's talk about that. He jumped in and said, what do you think the repercussions should be?

What should the repercussions be? You tell me, I take 30 days off. How does that hurt me? I mean, I told you guys when we were going through COVID, COVID the last 10 years. I could set it out and, you know what I mean? What would be the problem? It's much like COVID, actually, you know, me leaving hurts the company. Harts my employees.

Harts the fighters. So, yeah, so he basically says that if he were to step down or anything happens, it's going to hurt the UFC. It's going to hurt the fighters. It's going to hurt the company. Is that what everybody wants? Do you agree with him on that? No, I don't. I don't. I mean, I listen, Dana White's done incredible things for the sport. I'm grateful for what he's done. You know, he's helped bring this to the level that it is. But to say that it can't exist without him at the helm is absolutely. I mean, it's ego-based, right? It's like, I've done this. So if I don't continue doing it, it'll fail.

But it's a machine now. There's many people working. There's a lot of people that are doing various jobs that he used to do on his own. It's a multi-billion dollar company. So do I think he needs to be there for it to be successful? Absolutely not. But, you know, he doesn't want to let go of his identity, his fame. Well, what about him stepping away for a little bit, like a six-month suspension? Is that going to, is that matter at all? I mean, who does it? I mean, what would be the point? I mean, I think he either goes away forever, which would be like the ultimate, like, okay, he disrespected his wife, disgusting, okay, he has to go away. But 60 days or six months, or 30 days or two minutes, it's like, what's the point of that?

What happens then? The UFC doesn't have a domestic violence policy, right? I mean, have, what has happened in the past with other fighters who've gotten in trouble for similar incidents? There was an issue with Greg Hardy, former football player. I believe he played in the NFL, if I'm not mistaken. He was in a pretty public situation where he hit a woman. And, I mean, he was getting fights every other week almost.

I mean, he was constantly getting put out for a fight. So, you know, I don't think the UFC is that strict on situations where domestic violence is occurring. Well, what do they usually do in those circumstances? And do you think that there should be a domestic violence policy instituted at the UFC? I mean, obviously, there has to be something put down that would, it has to be repercussions to bad behavior. Otherwise, it just permeates. It just keeps going. But, yeah, in the past, fighters that have had issues with domestic abuse or alleged domestic abuse have been able to,

to flourish. A lot of times you'll just see it get brushed under the road. It's not something that really is demonized publicly in the sport. Well, Endeavor is the one that took a majority ownership in UFC, right? And don't they have some responsibility here? I would think so. I mean, again, the game has changed a few years ago with Zoufa stepping down and Endeavor coming in. So, you know, they have, they're Hollywood, right? Hollywood's super progressive and super, you know, don't hit women, don't it, which is all great. So you would think that would be implicated or rather implemented in the UFC, but I don't see that happening as of yet. Maybe this is sort of the moment, the turning point where it becomes more of a thing, right? It had to happen at this scale for it to become a problem.

Do you think there's been enough attention put on it because there has been criticism levied at certain media organizations? You're not following the story as much as you should be. I agree 100%. I think the initial influx of news that I was reading on Twitter was. he handled it well. I mean, TMZ, I can't remember TMZ's headline. I just remember looking at it and going, that's a strange take. Like, why aren't you calling him, you call people out for things far less egregious in ways that are far more sensational, titles that are way more sensationalized? But for this, I mean, this is the story of the year for MMA. I mean, this guy, right? You would think this would be blown up, but it was really not. And I find that interesting. Maybe it's his relationships with these various outlets. I don't. know. I'm not justifying in any way, but do you think it's complicated because, so he, from what I saw, he grabs her wrist first, but then she hits him and then he slaps her back. Is it complicated? It's not so straightforward because they might be looking while they're both drunk. She was physical

with him. He was physical with her. Is that why people, you know, aren't, you know, coming out clearer against this? I think so. I think in MMA specifically, I can't speak. I think maybe humans in general, but certainly for in the world of MMA for a long time. And I think, you know, none of us support hitting a woman ever, right? Ever, unless he makes coming at you with a gun or a knife, but never under any circumstance. But there was a feeling watching it like, well, no one's bringing up the fact that she slapped him, right? Like that, at least bring it out. I'm not saying because the thing is, two things can be wrong. She slapped him and he slapped her. They're both wrong things. But I think each person should take responsibility on some level for what they did.

So, yeah, that could be a factor. But I still think there's something cooking in terms of, like, his relationships with different outlets. That's my. Okay. So let's say nothing happens to him. He's not arrested. He's not suspended. He doesn't get a dock in pay of some kind.

You and I mentioned maybe they should write a domestic violence policy in the UFC. What about him being mandated to go to a counseling program? What about the UFC having some sort of partnership with a domestic violence survivor group, making it more vocal? Do you think anything like that could be a possibility? I mean, you have great ideas. Maybe. Well, I'll tell you what, they're not my ideas. I actually looked online about what potential repercussions there could be.

And I don't know. It sounded good to be. Yeah, I think they're great ideas. I think anytime you shine a light on something and you start to, right, you start to acknowledge it as being something that's real, like we're going to get money to this, a cause or whatever the case may be. The physical act of doing it is cool. But I think shining a light on it in a bigger way is going to have an even bigger effect.

So, yeah, on some level, I think that would be, those will all be great ideas and things that, you know, Endeavor should consider at least. All right. Stephen Williams. Thank you so much. Tell everybody where they can find you. Stephen Strangles people on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Stephen Strangles on Twitter. Now, you know, this is a true crime podcast. This is not you actually going out and strangling people. This is you, you know, your master class of Jiu-Jitsu, and I've seen your work and it's very impressive. So, Stephen, thanks for taking the time. And that's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series. Add free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Apple Podcasts. or Spotify.