Last year, Dana White introduced the world to his new creation – the Power Slap League program. Or simply: Slap League. Moreover, the ideological inspirations of the UFC boss were Russians, namely blogger Amiran Sardarov, who implemented a similar concept in the “Stone Faces” project. This was in 2019, the project grew rapidly, gained a lot of views and attracted White’s attention.
He initially offered cooperation and negotiated with Sardarov, but due to Dana’s desire to appropriate the copyright, the deal fell through. That’s when White launched his league and also got the Nevada State Athletic Commission to recognize it as a sport.
As for the rules, everything is very simple: the toss of a coin determines who makes the first blow. The attacker has 30 seconds to attack, which is done strictly under the eyes and above the chin. The person who is hit has 30 seconds to recover and then hits back. If there is no early victory, after three rounds the winner is determined on a 10-point scale. There are also championship belts in the league.
power slap league
Photo: Power Slap League
Of course, Dana received and continues to receive a lot of criticism for this show. UFC champion Islam Makhachev also criticized Power Slap: “I think it is harmful to health, 100%. You stand there and someone slaps you. I want to be away from this. “I think it underestimates the qualities of a man when someone slaps you.”
Former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub also freaked out: “This is the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. “The fact that this is related to the UFC takes the sport back 10 years.”
Dana White always firmly defends his creation and believes that the Slap League is much safer than boxing: “In this league, athletes receive three to five slaps during competitions. Boxers throw between three and four hundred punches per fight. Can you guess what my response to this review is? If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Nobody asks you to look.”
power slap league
Photo: Power Slap League
And Dana is also sure that slapping is the fastest growing sport in the world and in this sense she follows the path of the UFC. It sounds dubious, but the official does not stop praising Power Slap and, in addition, it has enormous media potential: it can easily attract UFC stars for advertising. In principle, White already believes that the Slap League has more subscribers than Real Madrid.
Late last year, Russian Pavel Vildanov appeared on Power Slap. The contract was signed for two and a half years and he rose to fame precisely on Sardarov’s show “Stone Faces”. Vildanov then fought with bare fists and attracted attention. And now Dana has made two more important acquisitions for the league from him.
Read more about Vildanov’s arrival at Power Slap:
“I will show that the Russian warrior is the strongest.” Big Daddy comes to conquer Dana White’s league
On June 28, as part of International Fight Week, the next Power Slap 8 tournament will take place, where there will be two showdowns for the title: in the heavyweight and welterweight divisions. And the event will be reinforced by two iconic faces. First of all, this is Vasily Kamotsky, nicknamed Pelmen. Without exaggeration, this is the main star of those very Russian slapping tournaments. After showing off in “Stone Faces”, he began to be invited to pop MMA, he was offered to perform in a Polish promotion, and Vasily even starred in the series.
Fans really liked Pelmen, so Dana White is also happy: “When I started watching all this Russian and Polish content, he was the first guy I saw. And he’s absolutely the guy that got me into this. “We signed him up for the Power Slap league and I want to see him compete.”
The second brilliant signing of the league is Paige Vanzant, an MMA sex symbol who fought in the UFC, bare knuckles and boxing, and now delights subscribers with exclusive content and is preparing to debut in a new form: “I just sign a contract and, whether anyone likes it or not, debut in Power Slap. Because you know what? I’m Paige VanZant. I was in the UFC, I fought bare knuckles, I boxed. I’m going to Power Slap now. And I’m going to do literally anything to piss everyone off.”
More recently, Vanzant made his boxing debut:
Not just beauty. Two model girls had a beautiful fight
Kamotsky and Vanzant are the most powerful power-ups in Power Slap. The Russian has the potential to become a star abroad, as the Slap League is the ideal place for him. Pelmen is dedicated to every blow, knocking out his opponents and White will definitely like it. There is nothing to add about Vanzant, Paige is a very popular athlete with a large fan base. She is already preparing for a new tournament and her training videos are getting a lot of views.
It seems that Power Slap is far from being closed, as critics predicted, and is also entering a new stage of development. Perhaps other stars, former fighters, will follow Vanzant and Kamotsky. Then the Slap League will reach a new level.
