The league’s founder, Dana White, LITERALLY just slapped his wife.
In the wake of a domestic violence incident involving White’s wife on New Year’s Eve, TBS is continuing to air his slap-fighting league—at least for the time being.
According to the New York Post, TBS has had “serious discussions” about shutting down, which a TBS representative, Jori Arancio, confirmed to the publication. Now, it has been confirmed the show will continue.
The UFC-backed show, Power Slap, which is partially owned by the UFC president, was scheduled to debut on TBS next Wednesday, Jan. 11. However, a UFC official informed broadcast partner ESPN that the debut has been postponed one week to January 18.
White announced in November that Power Slap and TBS had reached a broadcasting agreement for eight one-hour episodes.
At the request of UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, the Nevada Athletic Commission voted in October to regulate slap fighting, in which defenseless fighters slap each other with open hands from across a podium.
It’s essentially just watching people give each other CTE. In case you STILL had a question about its dangers, here’s a doctor watching it and talking about how horrible it is.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=optOo_zQCz8&w=560&h=315]
Although it has been more common in Eastern Europe, slap fighting has been around for years.
Here’s a promo video from Dana’s league:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NjyXW5qkW0?start=62&w=560&h=315]
Something like this should never even exist, much less be a sanctioned athletic event (I think it’s a sick joke). But now that we’ve determined that it’s egregious, let’s talk about how TBS is STILL going to air it after the main funder, promoter, and commissioner just got caught slapping his wife.
How can TBS and Warner Bros. possibly think this is okay? In my opinion, airing something that is literally called “Power Slap”, which is backed by a guy who just slapped his wife, is giving the thumbs up to domestic abuse. The amount of collusion here is indescribable. If you think TBS actually “had serious discussions” to cancel the show, you need to know that statement had zero validity.
Simon Samano wrote a great article for MMAJunkie that argues that Dana should be punished, and many are in agreement. Dana White should be severely punished. But, with TBS continuing to run his fancy new fight league, he’s not being punished–he’s being rewarded.
I hope Dana and TBS get what’s coming to them. Hopefully, nobody tunes in to watch this sick joke of a sport, but I digress. For these individuals making these types of decisions, I only have one question: Do you rest easy knowing you promote abuse against women?
If you’ve made it this far in the story, please take some time to donate to the link below.