UFC president Dana White slammed as controversial videos from new Power Slap League go viral with woman knocked out and man left twitching on the floor
Dana White is facing a huge amount of backlash as videos from his new Power Slap League go viral for all the wrong reasons.
Slap fighting is a relatively new sport that involves two competitors on either side of a podium taking turns to slap each other in the face, using as much force as they can to make contact.
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The aim is to knock out or make your opponent quit and the results can be extremely brutal as evidenced in a recent RXF event in Romania that caught the attention of UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
‘Notorious’ showing an interest in slap fighting is timely, considering Dana White’s Power Slap League debuted on Wednesday evening to an initially muted response.
However, just over 24 hours later, social media has been flooded with clips from White’s new slap promotion as fans literally cannot believe what he’s getting behind, though he has pointed out he is not forcing anyone to watch.
Ahead of the sport's debut, he said in an interview: "We spend the money to make sure that we have two healthy people in there 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. If you don’t f***ing like it, don’t watch it.
“Nobody’s asking you to watch this! Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch The Voice.”
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In one particularly alarming clip, Kortney Olson was brutally knocked out by Sheena Bathory, who made her eyes roll back with one hellacious slap on the show.
Olson tried desperately to get back to her feet but ended up falling into a forward roll in front of a live audience that gasped while those nearby - including her opponent – tried to stop her from being hurt any further.
In another match, Chris Thomas brutally knocked out his opponent with the first slap he threw, and it resulted in the most disturbing few moments of the event.
Chris Kennedy’s body immediately tensed up as he fell to the floor and his hands bunched into a fist as he began convulsing while his rival ran around celebrating his win.
Former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub was one of the first high-profile people to condemn the new sport he called the ‘stupidest s***’ he’s ever seen and insisted it does serious harm to MMA because of White’s association with it.
Boxing promoter and manager Sam Jones retweeted a video showing the most horrifying Power Slap moments with a condemning caption.
He wrote: “Ridiculous and Dangerous. Nobody should be giving this any kind of platform And Dana White saying he takes fighters' health seriously is quite laughable when he’s endorsing this s***.
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"Nothing skilled about this at all it’s a free shot to someone’s head. Disgusting to be honest and a man in his position and the profile he has should no better !!"
Meanwhile, neurologists have expressed their concern with the rules and believe the league is a ''.
The debut episode of the slap-fighting competition Power Slap: Road to the Title was supposed to air on January 11 but was delayed by one week due to its namesake White being caught on camera hitting his wife on New Year’s Eve.
The 53-year-old apologised for his actions but is facing widespread condemnation and some people are calling for him to step down from his leading role at the UFC.
It has since been confirmed that White will face no professional consequence for hitting his wife as he appeared as normal ahead of the UFC’s first event of the year.
The controversy has even caught the attention outside the combat sports world, with Buffalo Bills star Stefon Diggs taking to social media to comment.
He wrote: "What am I watching? I never watch TV anymore only Netflix and this what be on TV Jesus Christ."
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