"Slap fighting," a competition where fighters take turns slapping each other in the face until one of them is knocked out, has become a topic of controversy after UFC announced its new combat sport venture.
UFC President Dana White recently got approval from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to move forward with the “Power Slap League,” where slap-fighting competitions will be held under the commission in Las Vegas.
However, both the commission and UFC have faced backlash over the announcement as safe sports advocates say slap fighting as a combative sport comes with increased health risks as fighters are expected to absorb blows to the head instead of defending themselves like they would in a boxing match.
B.C.-based combat sport regulatory lawyer and licensed MMA and kickboxing judge, Erik Magraken, said slap fighting is more of a spectacle than a sport.
"Slap fighting is several steps backwards in the world of combative sport," Magraken told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Monday.
"I don't even like to call it a combat sport, I call it a combat spectacle because all slap fighting is, is an event where you remove all the skill and all of the sport and all that’s left is the brain trauma."
Magraken said its popularity among viewers is likely fuelled by the fact that the sport goes straight to the violence of seeing a fighter take a hit to the head.
"This is trying to distill a sport into its occasional violence conclusion and that appeals to some people," he said.
Slap fighting has recently increased in popularity as competitions have been streamed online through Twitch. Dana White’s Slap Fighting Championship has even been promoted by celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Logan Paul.
During a fight at the PunchDown gala last year, 46-year-old Polish fighter Artur Walczak, died from brain injuries he sustained after a fight. Dan Hardy, an English former mixed martial artist, called the league “stupid” on Twitter and said slap fighting would allow for fighters to "trade concussions."
"It's not a stretch to say there's going to be more deaths. There's certainly going to be more traumatic brain injury and people have to live with the consequences of those injuries," Magraken said.
Additionally, Magraken said that even if fighters aren’t knocked out, they could still sustain serious brain injuries such as second impact syndrome (SIS), in which the brain swells after getting a second concussion before it has time to heal from the first concussion.
"Anybody getting involved with this shouldn't be misled because it's an open-handed slap as opposed to a closed fist that it's any safer for the brain," he said.
MMA Fighting has reported that White responded to criticism of the league and said it would be regulated like MMA fighting and would only last three rounds.
"What you want is you want to make sure there’s clear cut set rules, people have to take the proper medicals before, during, and after the fight to keep the thing safe. It should be regulated and Nevada did the right thing," White said.
On Monday, the Power Slap League released a trailer for the televised fights and the announcement of the league’s first press conference on Nov. 11.
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