Last week, news surfaced that Dana White was set to launch the Power Slap League — a slap-fighting organization — that plans to hold its first event in late 2022. During Saturday’s UFC 280 pay-per-view, we got our first look at what to expect when the league comes to fruition.
Power Slap launched an official trailer and announced its introductory press conference will be held on Friday, November 11 in New York City. The news comes just over a week after the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved a petition from the league and will regulate it within the state.
Slap fighting is a viral sensation where competitors alternate open-handed slaps until one person cannot continue. Most recently, Logan Paul and Arnold Schwarzenegger hosted a slap-fighting event at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio.
Check out the official trailer for the league below.
Power Slap events will be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. As for broadcasting plans, there is no official word but the UFC’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, and broadcasting partner ESPN and its streaming service ESPN+ could be natural fits.
Of course, there was some criticism when it was first announced that White received approval for the venture.
The critics ripped Dana White for hypocrisy, saying that the slap fighting league doesn’t allow participants to protect themselves and leads to unnecessary head trauma with the participants getting brutally knocked out.
Predictably, White isn’t having any of it.
“It’ll be regulated exactly like this sport is,” he told MMA Fighting. “I saw a lot of the goofballs talking sh*t — goofballs being media guys — talking about, ‘What’s next, mallets?’ Stupid sh*t like that. The bottom line is, in a boxing match, guys get hit with 300-400 punches in a f*cking fight. These guys are going to get hit with three slaps. For these morons to be talking all the sh*t that they are about the athletic commission, the athletic commission did the right thing.
“So did we. We run right toward regulation, regulate the sport to make sure it’s safe for everybody — because a lot of people are going to get involved in this just like they did MMA. What you want is you want to make sure there’s clear cut set rules, people have to take the proper medicals before, during, and after the fight to keep the thing safe. It should be regulated and Nevada did the right thing. I applaud them and that’s why they’re the most respected athletic commission in the world. Anybody can try it out. MMA guys have reached out to me.”
It will be interesting to see just how far Dana White can take the Power Slap league moving forward, but I’d be lying if I said I won’t be tuning in to see how it all plays out.
