UFC star who fought Jon Jones wanted to join Dana White’s $750m Power Slap but was denied
Anthony Smith has revealed the UFC did not want him to compete in the popular Power Slap promotion.
Smith is preparing for his retirement fight in the UFC following back-to-back defeats in 2024.
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'Lionheart' is fresh off a dominating TKO defeat to Dominick Reyes at UFC 310 in December and says he wanted to take part in Power Slap, but the UFC denied him.
“I tried. They told me no,” on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“Straight up, I asked Hunter [Campbell, Chief Business Officer of the UFC], and he told me no.
"He wouldn’t even bring it to Dana. I don’t know. He said no.”
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Smith's defeat to Reyes was an emotional one, as it marked his first bout in several years without best friend and mentor, Scott Morton, in his corner.
The former UFC title challenger lost his long-time friend, who passed away in his sleep, just two weeks before the bout.
Morton had made the walk with Smith in 57 of 58 of his professional bouts, therefore his absence definitely had an effect.
That is probably the main reason why Smith does not want to go out on a defeat, having also confirmed with Helwani that he is gearing up for one last dance.
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Although he refrained from confirming his next opponent, Smith did announce that his last fight will take place in April, subsequently marking his 60th professional bout.
Smith has notable wins over the likes of Rashad Evans, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua and Alexander Gustafsson during his 12-year UFC career, and will look for one more special victory in a few months time.
UFC 310: Dominick Reyes vs Anthony Smith
Stats
Reyes
- Total strikes - 172 of 232
- Significant strikes - 121 of 162
- Control time - 3:51
Smith
- Total strikes - 21 of 46
- Significant strikes - 24 of 49
- Control time - 0:01
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Power Slap has received mixed reviews since UFC President Dana White launched the slap fighting league in November 2022.
The sport involves two participants taking turns to slap each other as hard as possible to try and knock each other out.
Many ex-UFC stars, such as Paige VanZant, have competed in the promotion since turning away from MMA.
Several brutal knockouts from the promotion' shows have also gone viral on social media, prompting a bunch of high-profile people to condemn White.
However, Smith has previously admitted he is a massive fan of the slap league.
“I’ve been saying it for f***ing months. I cannot get enough of the Power Slap League," he said 2023.
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“My body is ready for a pay-per-view. I will pay for it. I don’t care how much it costs. I’ll pre-pay. I’ll pre-pay the next ten. I love it! I don’t know why. I can’t give you a reason."
UFC CEO White claimed last year that Power Slap had grown 250 times its initial investment and was worth $750million.
He revealed that himself, along with Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, invested one million dollars each to kick start the slap league promotion.
“You know the original guys; the Fertita brothers were my partners in the UFC," White said on The Pete and Sebastian Show in May 2024.
"We sold in 2016 to Endeavor, so my go-to guys I said: ‘Hey, I got another idea. you guys want to do this?’
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"And they’re like: 'Yeah, we’re in.’ So we all got to pony up a million bucks each and get this thing started.
Meet undefeated MMA fighter Robert Trujillo who switched sports to Power Slap and cleaned out division with KO power and Dana White had to build a new class for him
"That was 13 months ago; it’s a $750 million business [today].”
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