Stephen A. Smith Says UFC’s Dana White Should Punish Himself After Slapping His Wife The Same Way He’d Punish A Fighter

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith thinks UFC President Dana White should punish himself after slapping his wife the same way the UFC boss would punish a UFC fighter for the same offense.

A video surfaced Monday evening of White slapping his wife, Anne, celebrating the New Year in a Cabo San Lucas, Mexico nightclub. In the footage, Anne slapped Dana in the face, who then slapped his wife back before others in the VIP section broke the two up. On Wednesday’s First Take, host Molly Qerim asked Stephen A. what kind of punishment White should face for slapping his wife.

“My immediate response to that is whatever discipline he should face is the kind of discipline he would impose on someone he oversees,” Smith said. “That would be consistent with who he is.”

Smith “openly confessed” that his friendship with White goes beyond sports and that the two are very close personally.

“He’s a friend; I love the guy,” Smith added. “This is a very hard subject for me. We talk all the time. We’ve certainly connected briefly since this happened. He knew there was no way on earth that I wasn’t gonna talk about it.”

Smith thought about White’s family and how Dana and Anne put their family in a negative situation.

“My heart goes out to his family because this is a very, very embarrassing situation,” Smith continued. “He says it has never happened before. He’s completely ashamed and utterly disgusted with himself that he finds himself in this situation that he would have ever done such a thing to a woman he’s been married to for 30 years.”

“He makes no excuses for it, and I think it’s important to point that out,” Smith added.

Smith explained that White’s wife, Anne, spoke to TMZ Sports and said that her husband’s actions were “out of character.”

“In the end, he’s not making any excuses,” Smith said. “It’s certainly not for me nor anybody out there to make an excuse because particularly in the times that we’re living in, and with all the things that we’ve learned and the kinds in an ordinant amount of times we’ve had to address subjects like this, we have to maintain consistency in pointing out, you do not put your hands on a woman if you are a man.”

Stephen A. repeated how he thought White should be punished. Similar to how a UFC fighter would be punished if they hit their spouse.

“Whatever punishment you had exact under these circumstances to somebody else is what he should apply to himself,” Smith concluded.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, a remorseful White took ownership of the slap and said, “there’s no excuse” for his actions.

Watch above via ESPN.