The Bottom Line: The New ‘Human Cockfighting?’

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

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If you log onto MMA Twitter even intermittently, you’ve almost certainly picked up on the general attitude towards Dana White’s Power Slap project. Debuting in just a few weeks with a reality show that airs after a professional wrestling telecast, the show is not too subtly trying to recreate the magic of “The Ultimate Fighter,” with many of the same behind-the-scenes players. The participants take turns slapping each other, attempting to knock each other out or win via decision. The advance advertising has focused on big personalities talking trash at each other like Chris Leben and Josh Koscheck on the first season of TUF.

The reaction from the MMA community to this has been, in short, exceedingly negative. The notion of a slap fight league has been simultaneously ridiculed as a stupid idea that can’t possibly succeed and condemned as a deplorable exercise in generating brain damage with little skill involved. Few seem to have any interest in watching, and fewer think it has much of a chance of thriving.

My natural instinct is to agree with the common sentiment. Slap fighting doesn’t seem to involve much in the way of skill. There is of course some technique in delivering any blow, but defense is literally against the rules. It seems more oriented towards people who are able to sustain strong blows to the head without going unconscious, which doesn’t tend to sustain itself over time and produces terrible long-term consequences. That’s less sport than spectacle, and the early commercials seem to back up that that is the chosen approach. It just doesn’t feel like it has anywhere near the skill involved in learning wrestling, jiu-jitsu and striking and being able to blend techniques against an opponent looking to counter what you attempt.

It’s also hard to have much confidence in an entertainment product built around one thing happening over and over again. There’s so little variance, something that plays a role in the success of any athletic entertainment. It’s obviously going to be built around personality, but the underlying enterprise needs to be able to stand on its own. It seems doubtful this will be able to, particularly in an entertainment landscape that’s more fragmented and difficult to gain traction in than ever before. With all that said, I’m left conflicted about condemning Power Slap too forcefully. That’s because the conversation about what’s wrong with slap fighting seems awfully familiar.

Back in the early Semaphore Entertainment Group days, and then again during the 2005-07 period when MMA exploded in popularity in the United States, there was a backlash against the sport. Contrary to what one might think, it didn’t come most strongly from those broadly opposed to violent activities. Rather, it came most passionately from boxing supporters. It was certainly not all boxing fans or commentators, but the boxing world was a center of anti-MMA fervor.

The arguments against MMA became very familiar over time. Unlike boxing, it wasn’t a real sport. It was too barbaric, too brutal, not as sophisticated as the sweet science. You could punch someone on the ground! You could kick or knee them in the face! The gloves were so small! There were of course aspects of boxing that were more violent, such as the fact you give concussed fighters time to recover and fight on rather than stopping the fight when they can no longer defend themselves, but when a rule set has been in place for a long time it starts to feel more legitimate, more justifiable.

It’s easy to forget now because this viewpoint lost out, but it was not uncommon for quite a while to hear MMA dismissed as a fad. Its popularity was undeniable but thought by some to be fleeting and apt to soon fade away. It was frustrating as a believer in the sport to hear it dismissed on multiple levels from people who didn’t even understand it and weren’t interested in doing so, all because they were convinced their violent sport was inherently better.

This ought to start feeling a little familiar in the context of Power Slap. MMA is now the entrenched sport, by most measures more popular than boxing, and its supporters are looking down their noses at the fledgling new attempt at a combat sport. To be clear, there are major differences, both in terms of the nature of the sports and in the fact slap fighting has no real base of significant fan support, even relative to the dark days of MMA. It’s understandable that many in the MMA community don’t think much of Power Slap. Still, given the way MMA, its competitors and its fans were dismissed in such a similar manner, I’ll let others decry the whole enterprise. Maybe there are still some salty boxing fans sporting for a new fight, one they’re more likely to win than the failed crusade against MMA.