Dana White knows the reason Power Slap League hasn’t been positively received by the MMA community.

UFC Las Vegas is set to go down this Saturday night and will be headlined by a pivotal bantamweight contender bout between former champion Petr Yan and the streaking Merab Dvalishvili. Meanwhile, over in the UFC Apex facility that same night, the season finale for White’s latest side project Power Slap League wraps season 1.

The UFC event will be the promotion’s first post-pandemic fight night in Las Vegas that won’t be held inside the UFC Apex. Since Power Slap’s inception, many within the community have voiced their disinterest as well as health concerns for competitors. From White’s point of view, he believes it’s obvious that if he wasn’t at the helm, there’d be no backlash whatsoever.

“When it was going on before, nobody was covering it,” White said at the Power Slap season 1 finale pre-slap press conference. “Because I’m involved now, everyone wants to attack it. There’s no doubt about it.

“Let me talk about the story that came out in my home newspaper again. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is talking about how ashamed the Nevada State Athletic Commission should be about sanctioning Power Slap, right? The Nevada State Athletic Commission is the best athletic commission in the world. It’s not just cause they’re in our hometown. If the equivalent of the Nevada State Athletic Commission was in Alaska, we’d be going to them for approval.

“It doesn’t matter what your opinions are of this,” he continued. “This has been going on for 10 years unregulated. What the athletic commission does is they come in and oversee it and they make sure all the health and safety precautions are in place and that everybody’s abiding by it and doing what they’re supposed to do. These unregulated events are going on all over the world. What’s so great about Nevada is they’re always first, they’re the best.”

According to White, slap-fighting bouts are beginning to be allowed in more and more places around the U.S. as five other states have now approved the concept. The UFC boss didn’t share which states those were, but added that six additional others are currently also in discussion.

In a way, the current timeline has been all too poetic for White. The Ultimate Fighter 31 recently began with coaches Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, and White can’t help but see similarities between the first TUF season in 2005 and Power Slap. Ultimately, White ensures that the seemingly defenseless competitions are safer than ever.

“There are some athletic commissioners out there that just want great tickets, come and hang out at the fights, and things like that,” White said. “Nevada really do care that the health and safety things are in place.

“We found a guy yesterday through our testing that had a brain aneurysm, let him know, that fight’s off, and this guy should never compete again in a combat sport. That’s why health and safety is so important and why it should be regulated and why reporters, especially in our hometown, shouldn’t be saying that the Nevada State Athletic Commission — you don’t like slap? Fine. Don’t watch slap. Don’t come to an event. Don’t cover it. No problem. But for you to condemn the commission for doing what they’re in place for. Slap fighting isn’t going anywhere.”

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VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

One full decade.

The rise of Zhang Weili.

Freematch.

Bellator 292.

Flashback.

Epic 2022 fight.

History.

Day in the life with Sterling plus Cruz.

Kick power!

Mystic “Bones.”

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LISTEN UP

No Bets Barred. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Conner Burks discuss if Petr Yan can rebound vs. Merab Dvalishvili. Plus, whoops! Jed lost all his money.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

MVP BJJ???

Good old Bas.

Thick Pettis.

Hecken kick.

Maybe.

Champs.

Who would have thought?

Damn, Mike.

Shot caller.

Aggressive.

Classic.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kyoji Horiguchi (31-5) vs. Ray Borg (16-5); Bellator 295, April 22

Carlston Harris (17-5) vs. Jared Gooden (22-8); UFC Las Vegas, March 11

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I mean, it makes sense, but I can’t help but find it seriously hilarious that Power Slap booted UFC out of the Apex this weekend.

Thanks for reading!

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EXIT POLL

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