The decline in the popularity of mixed martial arts, noted not only by fans, but even by Khabib Nurmagomedov himself, is forcing the president of the planet’s main promotion to act outside the box. Most recently, the head of the UFC, Dana White, signed a contract with a mega-popular blogger from Dagestan, Hasbick, releasing a line of clothes with his image, and now he has created a new tournament … for slaps!

The first competitions will be held at the end of this year. Moreover, in Russia, the wave of hype on this “discipline” has already passed. However, White has a particular fondness for slaps.

A few years ago, Dana asked one of the UFC fighters to punch him in the face!

White received permission from the commission

Slapping tournaments, in which two opponents standing opposite each other must alternately punch each other “bream” to a knockout, became popular just a few years ago. Such competitions received a special hype in Russia and Poland: YouTube videos collected millions of views. However, in just a couple of years, interest in them has cooled down. Probably because of its freakishness and lack of any meaning.

Photo: © Gaelen Morse / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Nevertheless, everything is just beginning in the USA, despite the fact that such a strange kind of “sport” most likely went from there. On the Web, you can find old videos shot in the States, in which men hit each other on the cheeks with all their might in front of the public. Now organize a similar, but at a higher level, decided to UFC President Dana White. He has already received approval from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to run a slap tournament.

The new tournament will be called the “Dana White’s Power Slap League” and was created with the support of former Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Lorenzo Fertitta. The date of the first competition is not yet known, but according to the MMA Fighting portal, it could take place at the end of 2022.

Dana loves slaps

White’s creation of a slapping tournament is especially amusing when you consider the rather strange act of the UFC president. A few years ago, a video appeared on the Web in which the famous fighter Nate Diaz, right in the middle of the street, inflicts a hard slap on the face of Dana. Later, journalists asked the UFC president to explain what it was all about.

– After Nate signed a new contract, we drove with him through Stockton, I asked to stop the car near a local motel. It just suddenly occurred to me that I asked Nate to hit me. You should have seen his face at that moment. Then we got out of the car and he slapped me,” White told MMAImports.

However, despite such a great love for slaps, Dana White should take into account the experience of colleagues from other countries. Although the president of the UFC, perhaps, does not set himself the task of maintaining interest in such a strange sport for many years, but simply wants to hype and draw attention to his main brainchild.

That’s just thinking Dana is, at a minimum, about safety. Getting the hardest and not always single palm strikes to the face, especially if the task is to knock out an opponent, to put it mildly, does not improve health. If in the upcoming tournaments one of the participants will thunder into the hospital with complications, or worse, die, this will undoubtedly affect the reputation of White and his new tournament.