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Dana White has apologized profusely after being caught on camera slapping his wife Anne in the face during a New Year's Eve brawl in a Mexican club.
The 53-year-old White, who is estimated to be worth $500 million after building the UFC into a global money-making franchise, has been married to his wife since 1996 and they have three children together.
They were having a New Year's Eve party at El Squid Roe in Cabo San Lucas. White appears to say something to Anne, who responds by slapping him. He then slaps her back before splitting up with her.
Fronting up about the incident to TMZ, the UFC chief said: 'My wife and I were out Saturday night on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately that is what happened.'
'I am one of the guys who says 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.
'This is one of those situations that is horrible. I am embarrassed. We have three kids and since the video popped up, we have shown the kids and we are more focused on our family right now.
'People are going to have their opinions on this and people's opinions would be right, especially in my case. You don't put your hands on a woman, ever.'
His wife Anne is quoted by TMZ as saying: '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.'
White stated in 2014 that UFC fighters who were violent to women would not be allowed to return.
'There’s one thing that you never bounce back from and that’s putting your hands on a woman,' he said. 'Been that way in the UFC since we started here. You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.'
Where White goes from here will be closely watched in the coming days.
The next UFC event is scheduled for January 14 in Las Vegas, and he is normally expected to attend in person.