UFC Hall of Famer ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone says Power Slap is great ‘if you want to hear CTE brain damage’

Cowboy Cerrone on Power SlapDonald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone loves Power Slap — just don’t expect him to ever participate in it. On Friday night, the…

Cowboy Cerrone on Power Slap

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone loves Power Slap — just don’t expect him to ever participate in it.

On Friday night, the controversial upstart promotion’s sixth event went down in Las Vegas and drew a plethora of combat sports stars, online influencers, and celebrities. Also on hand for the festivities was the UFC Hall of Famer who offered an interesting endorsement for Dana White’s latest pet project.

“I love it,” Cerrone said. “This is, like, if you just want to watch knockout, knockout, knockout, and hear CTE brain damage, this is the event” (h/t MMA Fighting).

The UFC CEO has been pushing Power Slap hard over the last couple of years despite continued criticism from professional fighters and fight fans who have labeled the quote-unquote “sport” as nothing more than a barbaric display lacking any legitimate athletic merit.

Former NSAC Chairman Admits Regret over Sanctioning Power Slap

The inherent danger of Power Slap has also been a hot-button issue considering the entire premise is to hit someone in the head as hard as you can with the recipient disallowed from defending themselves. Still, that didn’t stop the NSAC from sanctioning Power Slap, a decision Stephen Cloobec — the former chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission — quickly came to regret. “I made a mistake,” Cloobeck told The Associated Press. “I’m not happy about it.”

‘Cowboy’ Cerrone spent 16 years competing against some of the biggest names in mixed martial arts under both the WEC and UFC banners. His memorable wars with Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis, Rafael dos Anjos, Edson Barboza, Jorge Masvidal, Robbie Lawler, Leon Edwards, Tony Ferguson, and Justin Gaethje earned him a spot in the UFC’s Hall of Fame class of 2023.

But even after more than 50 fights inside the cage, don’t expect to see ‘Cowboy’ step up to the Power Slap podium anytime soon.

“Not even I would do this,” Cerrone said with a laugh.

UFC leader Dana White defends Power Slap League, claims criticism comes from ‘Un-Education or pure hate’

Dana White defends Power Slap un-education or hate UFCDana White chalks up the criticism being lobbed at his Power Slap project as nothing more than “un-education or pure hate. The UFC President is undoubtedly one of mixed martial arts’ most prominent figures, turning the once-maligned sport into a global empire worth billions of dollars. Now, Dana White is determined to take the social-media-friendly […]

Dana White defends Power Slap un-education or hate UFC

Dana White chalks up the criticism being lobbed at his Power Slap project as nothing more than “un-education or pure hate.

The UFC President is undoubtedly one of mixed martial arts’ most prominent figures, turning the once-maligned sport into a global empire worth billions of dollars. Now, Dana White is determined to take the social-media-friendly sport of slap-fighting and turn it into another massive revenue stream. It’s a move that most MMA fans and fighters have disapproved of, calling the sport nothing more than “sanctioned brain trauma.” White has repeatedly brushed aside those critics, suggesting that Power Slap is safer than professional boxing.

In a recent interview with Nina-Marie Daniele, White once again reiterated that statement while also calling critics of his slap-fighting league either uneducated or just a bunch of haters.

“We spend the money to make sure we have two healthy people in there before the fight, but in slap, they take three to five slaps per event,” White said. “Fighters in boxing take three to four hundred punches a fight. It’s un-education or pure hate.”

It’s not the first time White has made that exact comparison to boxing and he’s not technically wrong. The problem is that White continues to neglect the fact that in boxing, fighters are allowed to protect themselves. In Power Slap, they stand there with hands behind their back and take a full-force slap that, more times than not, knocks them out cold.

Adding to the stigma of Power Slap is Dana White’s own history with domestic violence. Mere weeks before the first episode of Power Slap: Road to the Title was scheduled to air, White was caught on camera striking his wife during an altercation at a Cabo San Lucas nightclub on New Year’s Eve.

Not Every MMA Fighter Looks Down on Power Slap

Of course, not everyone involved in MMA absolutely loathes the so-called sport of slap-fighting. UFC light heavyweight standout Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith has professed his love for the brutality on more than one occasion while knockout artist Joaquin Buckley shared his positive experience while attending a live event.

“That’s the type of event that you have to watch live,” Buckley told InsideFighting. “Everybody watching these highlights on Instagram, watching reels, and watching on Rumble. You have to watch that thing live, and I can’t wait till they take that thing nationwide. Man, it’s going to be crazy.”

The first season of Power Slap aired on the TBS network, but after ratings continued to plummet week after week, the network parted ways with Dana White’s pet project, prompting him to take the product to Rumble, an online video-sharing platform introduced in 2013. Power Slap aired its second live event through the streaming service on May 24.

UFC legend Frank Mir voices hatred for slap fighting following Tim Sylvia’s debut: ‘I want to fix our sport’

Frank MirFrank Mir is not a fan of slap fighting, including Dana White’s Power Slap League Frank Mir, 47, is set to make his final walk to the cage this August alongside his 20-year-old MMA prodigy daughter, Bella Mir. Speaking with talkSPORT, Mir shared his honest thoughts on slap fighting, a sport that has seemingly taken […]

Frank Mir

Frank Mir is not a fan of slap fighting, including Dana White’s Power Slap League

Frank Mir, 47, is set to make his final walk to the cage this August alongside his 20-year-old MMA prodigy daughter, Bella Mir. Speaking with talkSPORT, Mir shared his honest thoughts on slap fighting, a sport that has seemingly taken the internet by storm in recent years.

“I am a big hater of slap fighting,” Mir said. “In fact, if I’m ever going through anything social media and I see anything come up, I try to swipe through it as fast as possible, so the algorithm doesn’t read that I want to see as any of that garbage. I think that is one of the things I want to fix about our sport.”

Frank Mir’s comments come on the heels of former UFC heavyweight titleholder Tim Sylvia making his debut in the controversial sport under the SlapFight Championship banner. ‘The Maine-iac’ earned a win over ‘The Bouncer’ last weekend after five rounds of back-and-forth head-splitting action. Sylvia, who has been very open about his financial hardships following a reluctant 2015 retirement, walked away from MMA after saying that he had “received enough damage over 16 years.”

Frank Mir Wants to Help Fix the Issue of Fighter Compensation in MMA

Once Frank Mir closes the book on his own legendary career this summer, the former UFC heavyweight champion hopes to help the next generation of fighters become more financially secure as they approach retirement, preventing them from engaging in sports like slap fighting to make ends meet.

“You know, when an NFL player goes broke three years after his career no one sits there and goes. ‘Well, the NFL didn’t pay him enough.’ No, they have a player’s union, he got paid, he got compensated, he just went out like an idiot and was having $100,000 parties,” Mir continued. “When you see an MMA fighter who is struggling after his career, people don’t really say, ‘Oh, he didn’t manage his money well.’ It’s, ‘Well, they are not compensated for what they generate.’

“If you look at some of the numbers we pull off on pay-per-views and how much the fighters get paid – that’s one of the things I want to fix about our industry. A much smaller portion goes to the promotion. We are not going to become millionaires off the back of the fighters. The show has to make money so we can continue to have a show but at the same time the fighters themselves are the most compensated.”

NSAC chairman slams Power Slap after six competitors test positive: ‘I didn’t know you needed to use steroids’

Power SlapDana White‘s Power Slap League is once again under scrutiny after six of its competitors tested positive for banned substances. From the moment it was announced, the UFC president’s latest pet project has been belittled by fight fans, calling it nothing more than “sanctioned brain trauma.” With the first season of the controversial series concluding […]

Power Slap

Dana White‘s Power Slap League is once again under scrutiny after six of its competitors tested positive for banned substances.

From the moment it was announced, the UFC president’s latest pet project has been belittled by fight fans, calling it nothing more than “sanctioned brain trauma.” With the first season of the controversial series concluding in March, the backlash finally began to die down. That was until the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed that multiple Power Slap “athletes” have tested positive for an assortment of performance-enhancing drugs.

NSAC chairman Anthony Marnell responded to the lengthy list of suspended athletes under the Power Slap banner.

“Is there like a big bowl of performance-enhancing drugs down there somewhere that I don’t know about?” Marnell commented. “I haven’t seen this in quite a while. I didn’t know you needed to use steroids to slap but I guess we’re going to find out.”

In 2022, the NSAC unanimously approved the regulation of slap fighting in the state, a decision that former commission chairman Stephen Cloobeck would later regret.

“I made a mistake,” Cloobeck said about his vote in a statement sent to the Associated Press. “I’m not happy about it.”

Nevada State Athletic Commission Reveals Six Power Slap Competitors Who Have Been Suspended

Six men have been slapped with temporary suspensions after testing positive for a plethora of banned substances. MMA Fighting has obtained a list of names and the performance-enhancing drugs they are accused of ingesting, which you can see below:

T.J. Thomas, who competed in a slap fighting bout on March 9, suspended after testing positive for clomiphene, a hormone and metabolic modulator

Jay Rivera, who competed in a slap fighting bout on March 11, suspended after testing positive for GW-1516, sulfone and sulfoxide, hormone and metabolic modulators

Chris Thomas, who competed in a slap fighting bout on March 11, suspended after testing positive for Buprenorphine, a narcotic and its metabolite norbuprenorphine. Buprenorphine is a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.

Andrew Provost, who competed in a slap fighting bout on March 11, suspended after testing positive for Buprenorphine, a narcotic and it’s metabolite norbuprenorphine

Isaih Quinones, who competed in a slap fighting bout on March 11, suspended after testing positive for Norandrosterone, drostanolone, tamoxifen and boldenone, which are anabolic steroids. His “A” sample was tested and showed “exogenous origin of testosterone.”

Frank Holland, who competed in a slap fighting bout on March 11, suspended after testing positive for phentermine, a stimulant that can be prescribed for weight loss.

It’s another setback for Power Slap after dismal ratings during its first season on TBS convinced the network to decline a second-season option. Originally planning to air the March 11 finale on pay-per-view, Dana White was forced to move the event to Rumble, a little-known streaming service typically geared toward conservative-friendly news and content. Following the finale, White revealed his plan to film the next two seasons of Power Slap in Abu Dhabi with both eventually airing on Rumble.

“I’ve got a two-year deal with Rumble. The Abu Dhabi deal, we’re still working it out, but I’d love to do is two years with them too, do season 2 and season 3 over there,” said White at the Power Slap post-fight press conference.

Paddy Pimblett’s Streak Of Dana White-Backing Ends With “Messy” Power Slap League

While he’s often been aligned with the view of promotional president Dana White, UFC lightweight star Paddy Pimblett has finally noted his disagreement with his boss on one topic. Since arriving on MMA’s biggest stage in 2021, Pimblett has …

While he’s often been aligned with the view of promotional president Dana White, UFC lightweight star Paddy Pimblett has finally noted his disagreement with his boss on one topic. Since arriving on MMA’s biggest stage in 2021, Pimblett has quickly risen to prominence courtesy of both his performances inside the Octagon and his personality outside…

Continue Reading Paddy Pimblett’s Streak Of Dana White-Backing Ends With “Messy” Power Slap League at MMA News.

Power Slap PPV Scrapped, Finale to Stream Live for Free Mar. 11

Power Slap League’s season one finale will not be sold on pay-per-view after all. Dana White’s venture into the world of slap fighting was destined to be controversial from the moment it was announced. Not only is the “sport” po…

Power Slap League’s season one finale will not be sold on pay-per-view after all. Dana White’s venture into the world of slap fighting was destined to be controversial from the moment it was announced. Not only is the “sport” polarizing in itself due to its high risk of concussions and traumatic brain injuries, but Power…

Continue Reading Power Slap PPV Scrapped, Finale to Stream Live for Free Mar. 11 at MMA News.