Slap fighting turns heads as Dana White looks to make it the next major U.S. sport

Throw cornhole and pickle Both have matured into organized professional sports in recent years. But another emerging competition trying to get in on the action calls for contestants to demonstrate an entirely different type of skill: the ability to dumb punch someone.

Slap fighting is a one-on-one competition in which opponents slap each other in the face until someone surrenders or is KO’d. Though competitors have held unregulated games in small venues for years, the competitions received a major cachet in October when the Nevada Athletic Commission sanctioned them as a sport.

Slap fighting became even more popular earlier this year when Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable network TBS began televising matches on a show called “Power Slap.” Nevada sports officials have also approved UFC President Dana White as the main promoter for the Power Slap League, which kicked off in January.

“There was just something about it that I liked, and I love the challenge of it,” White told the Associated Press this week. “I love taking something and making it a big brand.”

Growing fan base

Slap fights last three to five rounds. A striker has 60 seconds to recover from a hit and earns points based on how hard the shot lands. The Power Slap League has more than 30 participants, aka “Strikers,” with winners raising $2,000 to $10,000 per game.

Some of the league’s biggest stars include Missouri’s Darius “The Destroyer” Mata-Varona; Christopher “Ko Chris” Thomas from North Dakota; Vernon “The Mechanic” Cathey from Kansas; and Mike “Slap Jesus” Smith from California. White described the forwards as normal boys and family people who just love to compete.

Slap Fighting has a growing following on social media, particularly in Europe, where videos of matches have received millions of views on YouTube and Instagram. On television, TBS averaged about 275,000 viewers for the first four episodes of Power Slap, during which some competitors showed signs of concussions.

Indeed, the brutality of the sport prompted the Nevada Athletic Commission to introduce stricter batting rules last month. Competitors must use open-hand strikes and must not smack an opponent under the chin, the commissioners ruled. A competitor will be disqualified if a slap violates the rule, while slaps are also subject to video review by an official.

Power Slap President Frank Lamicella told commissioners last month that there had been “no major injuries” among the 25 sanctioned games held so far. White has said league officials keep safety in mind when preparing for a game.

“We’re making sure we have two healthy athletes who will be competing Saturday night,” White told the AP. “We have proper medical care there during the fight and they (competitors) get proper medical care after the fight.”

“There is no sports”

Such assurances have not reassured the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), which in February asked the Nevada Athletic Commission to consider a batting suspension.

“The nature of the rules of this event, which stipulate that participants may not defend incoming punches, allows for a situation where participants are repeatedly concussed for entertainment. There is no sport here,” the group said in a letter.

“Notwithstanding existing procedures for preventing concussions after the fact, many in the medical community have raised questions about how this sport was ever approved by your commission,” BIAA added.

Stephen Cloobeck, who chaired the Nevada commission when it sanctioned slap fighting last fall, told the AP that he regrets approving the sport. “I made a mistake,” he said. “I’m not happy about it.”

Such concerns have also drawn scrutiny from the legislature. In a Feb. 15 letter to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, and Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, said TBS’s power slap “glorifies dangerous and aggressive behavior at the expense of the long-term health of its participants.”

Pascrell Jr. and Bacon, co-chairs of a House task force trying to raise awareness of traumatic brain injuries, also called the program “crass” and denounced the violence shown in videos of the fights.

“We saw footage of a man being slapped in the face and falling to the ground in a distinctive ‘fencing stance’, a telltale sign of brain trauma, but this was never revealed to viewers; the violence was only posted to tickle,” they wrote.

A Warner Bros. Discovery representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White, too, acknowledges that slap-fighting competitors get injured but said the risks can be mitigated with proper medical care.

“It’s no secret or no secret that hits to the head are bad for you. It’s not good,” he said. “But you can take a lot of risk if you spend the money and do the right medical testing.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.