‘We have to move forward — Perry reacts to White’s altercation with wife
Mike Perry suggests that it is time to move on from Dana White’s altercation with his wife.
Mike Perry believes Dana White has handled things well following his physical altercation with his wife and that it is time for the MMA community to move on from the incident.
White, the UFC president, was caught on video slapping his wife after the two got into a drunken altercation outside a Mexican nightclub on New Year’s Eve.
White has since apologized for the incident and his wife, Anne, said it was “out of character” for him and that the incident was a one-off.
White has faced tremendous public backlash for the incident, although some fighters have come to his defense. Perry, who used to compete in the UFC, acknowledges White was in the wrong but believes everyone makes mistakes and that it’s important to move forward.
“I saw a video of Dana White’s explanation, what a guy, man,” Perry said of White during a recent interview with MMA Fighting (h/t MMA News). “He definitely had no excuses, he said ‘Everyone who was talking about me, they’re probably right. I made a mistake.’ or whatever. How long has that guy been in the public eye? For so many years, for something like this to happen. Maybe he grabbed her wrist, she struck him, he struck back, alcohol involved, New Year’s, tough times. Man, people go through that. That happens to people…”
“I’m definitely not innocent in my life, but we have to move forward,” Perry continued. “You do a million good things, you do one bad thing, and everyone’s just on your case about it. They get the chance with someone’s as powerful as that, they get the chance to talk trash or put them out there as this evil, bad person. It could’ve been worse, it could’ve been better. What can you do? You go forward. Dana’s probably gonna donate to some charity this week…I can’t sit here and talk bad about the guy.”
White will face no professional punishment for this incident and will continue in his role as UFC president.