The longtime UFC president wants to “educate” viewers on his new slap fighting enterprise, but not if they find it gross or hard to watch.
Despite a public slap fight with his wife on New Year’s Eve, UFC president Dana White is still out front and center promoting his new business venture. Hoping to catch the latest wave of carnival-styled pseudo-sports, White has once again teamed up with former UFC owners Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta, to deliver the Power Slap League.
An Ultimate Fighter inspired reality show, Power Slap is set to feature a handful of burly dudes, smacking each other full force in the face for the kind of money White loses in a night of blackjack. It may be dumb and crass and barely meet the definition of a sporting contest, but White is eager to educate new viewers as to the comparative safety of slap fighting. Unless of course, you happen to think it’s dumb and crass.
“Because we spend the money to make sure that we have two healthy people in there,” White explained in a recent interview, “with proper medical attention during and after the fight. These are all the things we need to educate people on, just like we needed to educate people on mixed martial arts. But, in slap, they take 3-5 slaps per event. Fighters in boxing take 300-400 punches a fight. And guess what? You know what my answer to that is? If you don’t fucking like it, don’t watch it.
“Exactly! Nobody’s asking you to watch this! Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch The Voice.”
In Slap, they take 3 to 5 slaps per event. Fighters in boxing take 300 to 400 punches a fight.
Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch The Voice.pic.twitter.com/1kNUqX2uEL
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 17, 2023
The most recent news in the world of competitive slappers came from Romanian promotion RXF, who hit Las Vegas for their own heavyweight slap tournament. A battle between Simion Comsa and Alexandru Gorczyca went viral after the two men battled for 10 rounds, resulting in severe swelling on both sides.
This guy’s face swelled like crazy and he’s bleeding but he’s still going, can’t be too healthy pic.twitter.com/jSIae09dt2
— Matysek (@Matysek88) January 16, 2023
White seems to be claiming that these kinds of prolonged battles won’t be taking place in his promotion, but fans will get a chance to see for themselves come Wednesday, Jan. 18th when the first episode of Power Slap goes live. Unless, of course, TBS is counter programmed by The Voice, at which point everyone might just watch that instead.
About the author: Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. Host of the MMA Vivisection and 6th Round, he has covered MMA and the UFC since 2013. (full bio)