After Dana White’s violent behavior towards his wife, many are calling for his removal as president of the UFC despite his past of making record smashing profits for the company.
By: James Calidonna
If you are a fan of MMA, you’ve most likely heard of the recent controversies
involving UFC’s president Dana White over this past new year. White was seen in an argument with his wife on New Year’s Eve at a nightclub in Cabo, with the altercation seemingly turning physical. No information was public on why the altercation happened, but the fight quickly became major news.
Since the squabble, Dana White has come forward and publicly apologized. In a video released 3 days after the incident, White is quoted saying, “You’ve heard me say for years, there’s never an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman, and now here I am on TMZ talking about it.”
So Dana White has publicly addressed the issue and stated that he will now be
known as the guy who hit his wife for the rest of his life, but is that enough?
Many fans of the sport believe that there should be more punishment for Dana White,
while others believe he has atoned enough. White, 53, has been UFC’s president since 2001. Dana White believes that stepping down from his position would ultimately negatively impact the UFC in the future.
He believes that even if he were to step down from his position in the UFC, it would do more harm than good. I also agree that the UFC would struggle in his absence. It would be difficult to make fights, promote those fights, and handle fighter pay. Essentially, everything involving revenue within the organization would be thrown into disarray.
Dana White has done a tremendous job hurdling all these obstacles in the past 20 years and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit. Unfortunately, his personal life was brought into the public eye and that cannot be ignored.
Being a UFC fan, I can see both sides of the issue. On one hand, this man has put his
hands on a woman, and that I believe is unforgivable. But, on the other side, if he were to be stripped of his position in the UFC, the organization would fall apart. Dana White has done a tremendous job while holding the position of promoter for the UFC. Just in the past year alone, the UFC has made over 1 billion dollars in revenue.
On the business side of things, one can clearly see he is doing something right. The question is now, do we purposely overlook someone’s actions just because he has been profitable in the past for the company?
My opinion is no. For someone who has been criticizing and bashing his fighters
involved or allegedly involved in domestic abuse situations, it is not enough for him to be publicly known for his actions. I find it only fair for him to step down. He cannot play both sides.
In the past, he has even cut fighters on his roster involved or allegedly involved in issues involving domestic violence. After the incident on the new year, the UFC absolutely should cut Dana White from their roster indefinitely.