Dana White’s Power Slap ‘To Debut On Pay-Per-View In March’ With League Success On The Rise

Power Slap is set to hold its first pay-per-view event after slap-fighting success, according to a report.

The inaugural pay-per-view event will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 11, according to Sports Illustrated.

Power Slap’s debut means the UFC’s Fight Night main card, headlined by a bantamweight bout between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili, will come forward at 6 p.m. ET from The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.

The slap fight has continued to grow ever since White Power Slap: Road To The Title debuted.

The bantamweight fight between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili will take place at 6 pm ET

The first Power Slap champions will be crowned at the pay-per-view event at four different weights: heavy, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight.

Two Power Slap trainers: UFC President Dana White’s Road To The Title, undefeated fighter Darius ‘The Destroyer’ Mata-Varona and ‘Wolverine’ Ron Bata, will square off for the heavyweight title.

The show’s debut was delayed a week after White was caught on video beating his wife during a New Year’s Eve altercation at a nightclub.

The show is eight weeks long with the finale scheduled for March 8 on TBS, just in time for the first pay-per-view event.

The event will feature heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight bouts.

The Power Slap league has received criticism from fight fans and non-fans alike since it hit television screens.

Chris Nowinski, a Harvard Ph.D. and former wrestler who has criticized the sports world’s handling of concussions, took issue with a recent clip in which a fighter, Chris Kennedy, appeared to show immediate signs of a major head injury, known as a fencing stance.

“This is very sad,” Nowinski, co-founder and president of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, tweeted. ‘Note the fencing stance with the first brain injury. It may never be the same again.

Consultant neurologist Professor Nikos Evangelou from the University Hospital of Nottingham in the UK also expressed concern, saying sky news: ‘One of the problems with Power Slap is that participants are penalized when they move or flinch. Any movement that can reduce the effect of the blow to the head is penalized.’

A viral clip showed Romanian wrestler Sorin Comsa left with a bloodied and disfigured face after receiving a brutal blow in a different slap wrestling promotion.

Chris Nowinski, a Harvard Ph.D. and the former wrestler took issue with a recent video in which a fighter, Chris Kennedy, appeared to show immediate signs of a major head injury, known as a fencing stance.

He said that “impact to the head, from an angle, can cause rotational forces on the brain,” which he says is a “recipe for disaster.”

However, despite the controversy, the league has taken off with viewership figures for the second episode on TBS skyrocketing.

The debut episode on January 18 achieved 297,000 viewers, and episode two drew an average of 413,000 viewers.

Meanwhile, Google searches for ‘slap fight’ have skyrocketed 239 percent in the past year, according to data from WSN.

Following backlash from fans and health experts, White assured them that the Power Slap league commission is working to improve safety measures.

White insisted to fans and health experts on social media that the sport will improve safety.

Taking to Instagram, White responded to a comment expressing concern by writing: ‘I hear you. The commission is working on it. Everyone is in a learning process right now. They have learned a lot since the March event and will see it as the show progresses. But you are NOT absolutely wrong.

Former fighter Eric Spicely, who had seven fights in the UFC between 2016 and 2019, tweeted that he received the verbal offer to compete on the brutal slap fight show, which cost $1,997 to show up and then double your money if you win.

Spicely turned down the offer before describing the payment as “fucking crazy” given that viral clips of the “sport” have shown competitors with massively swollen and disfigured faces as a result of unprotected heavy blows.