Strongmen have been pictured brutally punching each other in the face in front of a jeering crowd as the wacky bout masterminded by UFC supremo Dana White made its way to Las Vegas.
Ron ‘The Wolverine’ Bata and Damien ‘The Bell’ Dibbell took turns punching each other in the face in a furious five-round fight at UFC Apex for Power Slap 2 on Wednesday.
The Bell defeated Ron ‘Wolverine’ Bata in the heavyweight division of the slap-fighting match.
Before the event, a coin toss decides who goes first, then they have one minute to open-handed their opponent.
The knocked contestant then has one minute to recover and get back into position – and if they are still standing after three rounds, a judge will choose a winner.
The event also featured fights between Ayjay ‘Static’ Hintz and Russell ‘Kainoa’ Rivero, as well as between super heavyweights Adam Hutchinson and Dayne ‘Da Hawaiian Hitman’ Viernes.
Pictured: Damien ‘The Bell’ Dibbell
Pictured: Wesley ‘All the Smoke’ Drain punches John ‘The Machine’
Power Slap is billed as the world’s premier slap fighting organization, with the niche sport attracting competitors from all over the world.
The latest faceoffs in Las Vegas follow UFC President Dana White’s decision to bring the slapfighting league back for a second season, complete with the first 800lb clash between Viernes and Hutchinson. The pair weighed 59 stone together, and Hutchinson even chewed a chocolate bar when he stepped on the scale.
White’s controversial Power Slap competition has drawn criticism from fight fans and non-fans alike, and is now being condemned by a leading neuroscientist.
Chris Nowinski, a Harvard Ph.D. and former wrestler who has criticized the sports world’s handling of concussions addressed a recent clip in which a fighter, Chris Kennedy, appeared to show immediate signs of a significant head injury known as a fencing pose.
“This is so sad,” tweeted Nowinski, the co-founder and president of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. ‘Note the fencing posture at the first brain injury. He may never be the same again.’
A fencing stance or fencing reaction involves shooting the victim’s hands in an unnatural position with their forearms bent outward.
Pictured: Dayne ‘Da Hawaiian Hitman’ Viernes vs Slap For Cash
Pictured: Ron ‘The Wolverine’ Bata and Damien ‘The Bell’ Dibbell
Pictured: Adam Hutchinson punches Dayne ‘Da Hawaiin Hitman’
Pictured: Ayjay ‘Static’ Hintz punches Russel ‘Kainoa’
Nowinski, who also played college football for Harvard, took aim at White, the promoter, and TBS, which broadcasts the brutal league.
“@danawhite & @TBSNetwork should be ashamed of themselves,” Nowinski added. ‘Pure exploitation. Now what, “Who survives a stabbing?”
The sport first gained popularity in Eastern Europe three years ago with a series of viral videos starring 370-pound Russian sensation Vasiliy Khamotiskiy.
Known as “Dumpling,” Khamotiskiy was seen in a video knocking a huge opponent unconscious to win 30,000 rubles, which was about $475 at the time. Other viral videos show Dumpling training by crushing watermelons and flipping tractor tires.
Social media attention helped the sport grow into a pay-per-view event, but things turned tragic in October 2021 when a Polish slap fighter and bodybuilder named Artur ‘Waluś’ Walczak was knocked down four times and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on a ‘Punchdown’ event in Wrocław, Poland. The 46-year-old was taken to hospital, put into an induced coma and eventually died of multi-organ failure in November, according to Polish reports.
In the aftermath, Polish authorities launched an investigation into safety conditions for Punchdown 5 contestants, while promoters insisted that Walczak’s health remained the top priority following his fourth and final knockdown.
‘The competitor [Walczak] remained conscious, but the troubling neurological symptoms observed by the rescuers prompted them to call the ambulance service,” Punchdown said in a statement.
Punchdown has since changed its name to Slap Fighting Championship.
Other slap promotions have been around longer than White’s circuit, including Missouri-based SlapFight.
White, who faced backlash after a video emerged of him beating his wife at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico, has defended PowerSlap and urged health and safety measures to be taken seriously.
“We’re spending the money to make sure we have two healthy people there and good medical care during and after the fight,” White said. “These are all things we need to teach people, just like we needed to teach people about mixed martial arts.”
As White told Just The Fights, he believes punch fights are safer than boxing, where fighters can defend themselves while getting hit hundreds of times in a fight.
Slap fights, on the other hand, typically only involve a few blows per match, though combatants are not allowed to defend themselves.
White said, “In Slap, they take three to five slaps per event. Fighters in boxing take 300-400 punches per fight. And guess what: do you know my answer to that? If you don’t fucking like it, don’t watch it.’