Nevada Athletic Commission Chair asks UFC Exec to make sure there are no fatalities at Power Slap

There’s been a lot of discussion about UFC’s latest business venture. UFC is organizing a slapping competition titled Power Slap.

And while this sounds benign enough, Slap competitions have previously had a fatality in Poland.

Just like boxing and MMA, slap fighting had a death victim too. Polish strongman and slap-fighting competitor Artur Walczak died following a brutal knockout in slap fighting.

Walczak was one of the participants at the PunchDown 5 gala. After taking a powerful slap, the 46-year-old fell to the ground unconscious and was sent to the hospital.

Artur spent a month in a hospital after being knocked-out in the finals of Punchdown. People were blaming the organization for his death because they called 911 instead of using the ambulance that was on-place. The EMT arrived 1 hour after the call.

He was put into a medical coma for over a month and later a friend of his confirmed that he has passed away. The doctors tried to wake him up from the coma several times but were unsuccessful.

Nevada State Athletic Commission has awarded Power Slap its promoters license after Dana White formally revealed his new business last week.

When the Commission convened on Wednesday to discuss Power Slap, NSAC Chairman Stephen Cloobeck requested that UFC executive Hunter Campbell make sure that nobody dies.

Campbell responded by saying,

“That is priority 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. That goes without saying. Honestly, one of the reasons we tested this was to really understand firsthand in person the health and safety aspect of the sport. We have a high level of comfort following that, working extensively with the commission, to make sure that we believe that safely.”

Cloobeck inquired, “You will make sure that no one has severe brain injuries going forward?”

Campbell said,

“That’s correct. That’s the other reason working with you and executive director [Jeff] Mullen, chairman. We put the health and safety requirements in place that are above and beyond basically what any other commission in the country would require.”

Many have expressed concern about the safety of the athletes since Dana White and the UFC first unveiled the Power Slap. He has pledged to make the sport safer, however.

White stated,

“I’m really into this. I like it. The other thing is, this stuff is going on. I know when we announced this, there were a lot of concerns about health and safety with some guys. Us getting involved guarantees that it’s going to be much safer…”

White added, “A lot of these questions that you guys have, the media, fans, potential fans have, will be answered in this eight-part series that we’re doing. These guys who have been doing it for a long time, there actually is technique to it.”

“You can actually roll with the slap. They know how to actually defend, brace, whatever you want to call it. There’s actually technique to this thing – believe it or not.”