Download Power Slap Finale
Lester Chiaramonte
The main card kicked off with a welterweight title bout between Chris Thomas and Jesus Gaspar Diaz. As expected going into the bout, Diaz ended the fight with the very first slap of the first round to be crowned the Power Slap welterweight champion.
In the second fight on the main card, the middleweight title was on the line between John Davis and Azael Rodriguez. Davis knocked out Rodriguez with the opening slap in the very first round of the bout.
The light-heavyweight championship bout turned out to be one to remember as Vernon Cathey went up against Ayjay Hintz. After being knocked down himself, Hintz came back and knocked out 'The Mechanic' with a vicious slap to become the new light-heavyweight champion of Power Slap.
Darius 'The Destroyer' went up against Ron Bata in the main event of the night. Going into the bout, 'The Destroyer' was undefeated in his slap-fighting career with three victories over his opponent Bata. However, things turned out to be different in their fourth meeting as 'Wolverine' stopped his opponent in the first round to become the heavyweight champion.
The Power Slap season one finale was initially rumored to be on pay-per-view. However, it was announced by UFC president Dana White that the event will be free to watch on the online video platform, Rumble.
While there were many theories speculating why, Dana White himself spoke about the real reason behind the Power Slap finale not being on pay-per-view. During a pre-match press conference, the UFC president spoke about why the promoters decided against putting it on pay-per-view.
LONGBOAT KEY, Fla. and LAS VEGAS, Feb. 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rumble, the video-sharing platform (NASDAQ: RUM) today announced that Power Slap 1: Darius the Destroyer vs. Wolverine, the live finale of the flagship series Power Slap: Road to the Title, will be streamed exclusively on Rumble. The live finale event is a global stream, available to all fans worldwide for free, only on Rumble.
Power Slap first gained notoriety by producing a reality television show titled Power Slap: Road to the Title, originally broadcast by the TBS network in the United States and on Rumble internationally.[1] Contestants on the show slapped each other in the face to win the "Power Slap League" tournament. The show's first season consisted of 8 pre-recorded episodes and was followed by the Power Slap 1 live event that aired exclusively on Rumble.[2]
The show was executive produced by Power Slap's owner Dana White.[3] The show was due to premiere on January 11, 2023, but was delayed a week after White was filmed slapping his wife in a Mexican nightclub at a New Year's Eve party.[2]
The show, considered the premier program of the slap fighting combat sport, had significantly lower ratings than its professional wrestling lead-in programming, AEW Dynamite, consistently drawing around 250,000 viewers compared to Dynamite's near million viewers.[4] On March 13, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery and TBS representatives confirmed to media sources that the network would no longer air Power Slap: Road to the Title following its first-season finale, which had aired the week prior, partly due to its low ratings.[5][6][7][8] After Road to the Title's cancellation by TBS, White confirmed that Power Slap would continue to hold events and produce content for Rumble. During the Power Slap 5 live event, it was announced that the second season of Road to the Title was set to air Rumble. The second season began airing on November 15, 2023.
Power Slap, which has been licensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, uses rules similar to those established by other slap fighting leagues. After a coin toss to decide who goes first, the first striker has a time limit of 60 seconds to deliver an open-handed slap to the opponent. Slaps must be below the eye but above the chin, without leading with the palm such that all hand to face contact takes place at the same time. Those being slapped may not flinch, raise their shoulder or tuck in their chins. After being slapped, the slapped competitor then has 60 seconds to recover and get back into position before it's their turn to slap. Fights which don't end in a knock out and go three rounds go to the judges' decision, using a 10-point system with judging based on slap strikers' effectiveness as well as the slap receivers' reaction and recovery time.[9]
Upon initial airing, Power Slap: Road to the Title created controversy[9] concerning the health of the participants and the inherent danger of the new sport.[11] Neuroscientist, chronic traumatic encephalopathy researcher, and former professional wrestler Christopher Nowinski observed one of the show's participants displaying the fencing response after being struck, indicating serious brain injury.[2] Greek neurologist Nikolas Evangelou called the show a "recipe for disaster" due to how "impact to the head, from an angle, can cause rotational forces on the brain", leading to "hopefully temporary, but sometimes permanent disruption to brain function" and "even more serious complications".[9] Many combat sports athletes also responded negatively to the show. Boxer and WBC champion Ryan Garcia wrote "Power slap is a horrible idea and it needs to be stopped."[12] UFC fighter Sean O'Malley stated that he refused to watch Power Slap: Road to the Title due to its association with brain injuries.[13]
On February 16, 2023, Bill Pascrell, a Congressman from New Jersey, and Don Bacon, a Congressman from Nebraska, announced that they were launching a Congressional inquiry into the ethicality of Power Slap.[15] That same month, one of the world's leading experts on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Dr. Bennet Omalu called for slap fighting shows to be removed from television. Omalu stated, in response to White's claims that he was making slap fighting as safe as possible, "It is a very dumb [sport], very stupid and unsafe. It is primitive. To me, such a sport is inconsistent with the intelligence of humans. It is possible that a participant could die from this. Somebody could die or suffer catastrophic brain damage and become a vegetable. How can he [Dana White] make that statement? It is like saying you will make a loaded gun safe [...] Why is TBS showing such a primitive sport? It should not be on TV."[16]
Celebrity vlogger Hasbulla Magomedov and Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg recently appeared in the ongoing Power Slap League. Both were invited as UFC President Dana White's guests to promote the Power Slap's finale this weekend.
A hilarious video of Hasbulla went viral on social media where he is seen being asked to slap Wahlberg. In the presence of White, people goof around with the duo and are heard provoking Hasbulla to take down Wahlberg. But Hasbulla chooses not to slap the Hollywood star.
The best knockouts and most dramatic moments from the first-ever Power Slap competition are revisited in one power-packed hour, one final look at the elite strikers who will compete in the championship fights at the live finale event in Las Vegas.
Both slap warriors gracefully took powerful shots in the first round. In the second round, Da Crazy Hawaiian gave Zales a slap that stunned him in a way that we've never seen him stunned before. Zales went "out" for a second and stumbled back so hard that it took 3 giant men to catch him so that he didn't fall on his ass.
Best actor nominee Will Smith appeared to slap presenter Chris Rock in the face with an open hand and shouted a vulgarity at the comedian for making a joke about his wife's appearance at the Oscars ceremony.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Logan Paul, together with Fanmio and PunchDown, are bringing you the premier of Slap Fighting Championship. Watch the adrenaline and intensity of one the most exciting new combat sports with 16 different matches including 3-time champion "Zaleś" Zalewski taking on the American slap fighting sensation, Da Crazy Hawaiian, Saturday, March 5, 2022.
The optics of two men slapping each other, which is fully regulated and in accordance to the Nevada Athletic Commission, may appear rough to some. Hell, even Congresmen Bill Pascall Jr. of New Jersey and Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska have publicly denounced it.
Wolverine was able to pull off the upset as he defeated his opponent, Darius Mata-Varona also known as Darius the Destroyer, with one slap. It was decided Wolverine would slap first on a coin toss, and his strike to the face knocked Darius the Destroyer down. The Destroyer made it back to his feet before the 10 count, but when he was asked to walk toward the referee, he was wobbly. The official immediately stopped the match and declared Wolverine the winner.
A primary ownership group consisting of White, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, Zuffa founders Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, and UFC ownership group Endeavor succeeded in convincing the NAC last October to approve slap fighting. That cleared the way for the Power Slap League to run events at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Stephen Cloobeck served as NAC chairman last October when Campbell made a slap-fighting presentation to the commission before the governing body voted to approve the controversial combat sport. Two months later, Cloobeck stepped down. And now three months after his resignation, he apparently feels differently about approving slap fighting in Nevada.
Champions will be crowned at heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, and welterweight during the 13-match event. Preliminary bouts will be three rounds, while the championship matches will have the competitors alternating slaps for up to five rounds.
UFC President Dana White's new venture Power Slap 1 has entered its final stages as the slap fighting promotion has announced it's lineup for the championship events that include heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight title on the line. The inaugural Power Slap championship will feature the likes of Darius the Destroyer, Wolverine, Vernon Cathey and Ayjay Hintz among others.
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