Dana White apologises after being caught slapping his wife in the face over New Year’s Eve

Dana White has apologised after video surfaced of the UFC boss slapping his wife in the face on New Year's Eve.

Footage showed White and Anne getting into a heated fight at a Cabo San Lucas nightclub.

TMZ says the couple's melee broke out shortly after midnight at El Squid Roe.

Dana can reportedly be seen saying something to his wife of 26 years before she slaps him in the face.

He responds with the same physical action before they are separated.

Speaking to TMZ, Dana said: "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.

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"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."

He admits there was a lot of alcohol that was consumed prior to the slap, however he acknowledges that's still no excuse for hitting someone.

Anne White has released a statement of her own to TMZ.

"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 apologised to each other."

Being the head of one of the biggest fighting franchises on the planet, Dana has been fairly vocal in the past about how he feels on violence outside the octagon.

Nearly a decade ago, White was asked for his thoughts on Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice assaulting his fianceé.

He responded with: "There’s one thing that you never bounce back from and that’s putting your hands on a woman.

"Been that way in the UFC since we started here.

"You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman."

Dana and Anne 'hope people will respect our privacy for the sake of our kids'.