Slap Fighting Becomes a Regulated Sport in Nevada

US sports regulation continues to astound with a new bizarre sport – slap fighting. The sport has been regulated by the Nevada Athletic Commission and it is going to have its very own league.

Slap Fighting Becomes an Official Sport in Nevada

Slap fighting has been viral and quite popular for a few years but now it is officially a regulated sport in the state of Nevada.

The sport is what it sounds like – two players stand across each other at arm’s length and take turns slapping each other on the face with an open hand.

On October 18, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief business officer Hunter Campbell made a presentation for the Nevada Athletic Commission after the UFC submitted a proposal. As a result, the Commission approved the sport for state regulation.

Following the regulation approval, the UFC is going to launch Dana White’s Power Slap League with its first matches expected to take place before the end of 2022. The first events are planned to take place behind closed doors but eventually, tickets will be sold to the public.

According to the announced schedule, the first match will take place on November 11 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Cambell explained how the whole process came about: “We’ve spent the last year sort of beta testing this in a controlled environment to really test and see the dynamic of how this would function as an actual league and real sport.”

Cambell highlighted that the sport involves certain skills and the fighters are actually athletes that train in order to excel at slap fighting. In this way, the sport shares a lot of similarities with MMA and boxing.

Overall Negative Response to the New Sport

While some people welcomed the new sport, a lot of others voiced different opinions on social media. Some comments said the sport is stupid, while others saw it as proof of the decline of humanity.

Trevor Noah from The Daily Show made a comedy sketch about the new sport throwing jokes that Will Smith should be proclaimed champion and funnily noting that the sport will soon be dominated by immigrant moms that are experts at giving slaps.

Dana White responded to all the negativity by saying it is important to regulate the sport in order to keep all participants safe.

One of the main arguments Cambell put in front of the Nevada Athletic Commission was that the sport is becoming more and more popular but there are no regulations, and no medical procedures in place to protect the combatants.

Cambell also called for the Commission’s approval as integrity was also important for such a combat sport. Cambell said he is aware of matches where one player is about 400 pounds and the other is 130. This is something that needs to be avoided at all costs and the current regulation will put a stop to such unjust and dangerous practices.