Stephen A. Smith And Molly Qerim Argue About Lack Of Punishment For UFC President Dana White: ‘What Exactly Is It That You’re Going To Do?’
ESPN’s First Take hosts Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim strongly disagreed about whether there has been sufficient punishment for UFC President Dana White after he slapped his wife in the face in public.
Dana and Anne White were captured on video slapping one another at a nightclub in San Lucas, Mexico, at a New Years’ party. After the physical altercation spread online and in the media, White apologized for the incident. On Wednesday, the UFC head admitted he deserved the scrutiny and criticism for his actions, but said the real punishment for him will be to live with the guilt.
“There’s a lot of things I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life that are way more of a punishment than what, I take a 30-day, 60-day absence. That’s not a punishment to me. The punishment is that I did it, and now I have to deal with it,” White said.
Thursday morning on First Take, Stephen A. and Qerim disagreed about how White’s situation was handled.
“This is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable, but what he said was actually factual,” Smith said. “From this perspective, what exactly is it that you’re going to do?”
“You keep him away from his job that he loves,” Qerim pushed back. “Because it’s a privilege to be a face of the company.”
Stephen A. argued that, as UFC President, White had no one above to discipline him. However Qerim quickly fired back that Endeavour Group Holdings, which is majority owner of the UFC, should hand down punishment.
“It needs to be Endeavor because he has a boss,” Qerim added. “We’re saying if fighters get X-amount of punishment, and I looked it up, there isn’t a standard policy with the UFC, and I’ve said this with the NFL there should be a hard and fast rule with gambling and PEDs, and there also should be when you violate a woman, so it’s the same thing here.”
“They have to create a policy, they have to look at what happened with fighters in the past, and it has to be more severe from the simple fact that he’s in a leadership role,” Qerim continued. “He’s the face of the company and what comes with that.”
Stephen A. pivoted and blasted critics who felt the First Take hosts went too lightly on White when they addressed the situation in early January.
“My response to that is, fine, but then people should be talking about that!” Smith said. “They shouldn’t be looking at Molly and Stephen A. and be like, ‘your tenor and your tone, and it wasn’t aggressive enough.’ What do you want me to say? All I could do is be honest and open about where we’re coming from.”
Smith explained that he and White were good friends, and they had a phone call after the incident, and Stephen A. told the UFC President how disappointed he was in him. Qerim wanted First Take to be applauded since they were one of the only shows to speak about it on ESPN’s airwaves.
“Domestic violence is egregious; it’s unacceptable. It shouldn’t happen, and he shouldn’t be able to exact his punishment, and so many people make poor decisions or get involved with the law, and they don’t get to say, ‘hey, my shame’s enough.’ No, you face punishment in addition to that, and that should happen here. And he has a boss, and that is Endeavor, and I expect them to hand something down,” Qerim concluded.
Watch above via ESPN.
