Dana White Responds to Critics of Brain-Damaging Power Slap

Do Power Slap fighters really know what they're getting into?

Power Slap (Power Slap) / White (MMA Junkie)

"If you wanna watch knockout, knockout, knockout, and hear CTE brain damage. This is the event."

- Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone / Power Slap

Since its inception in 2022, Power Slap has been a massive point of contention in the fighting community. The idea of two participants defenselessly trading free blows rubbed fans the wrong way, especially with the product closely tied to the UFC.

Power Slap

This was partly due to the steps the UFC made to distance itself from the human cockfighting narrative weaponized against it in the 2000s but also because of the danger of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head.

CTE is associated with dementia, and symptoms include Memory loss, confusion, difficulty thinking, deteriorated motor skills, and more.

Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy

CTE is prevalent in combat sports, especially boxing, where fighters can sustain hundreds of blows to the head without risk of being knocked out. What's worse is that CTE can't be definitively diagnosed until after death by examining brain tissue under a microscope, so no amount of studies or scans can dismiss the potential of CTE in a live athlete.

Dana White: Slap Fighters Know What They're Getting Into

With this in mind, fans have been keen to disparage Power Slap as 'free CTE,' given that the participants walk away with a concussion in almost every interaction. Power Slap owner Dana White had much to say when prompted about CTE in Power Slap by TIME Magazine on September 12:

White said that adults "have the right to choose" what they want to do, which comes with "inherent risks," and that he tries to "take as much risk out of it as possible" for the competitors.

"I used to box when I was younger," White remarked. "I went in and I did one of those brain studies. I have black spots all over my brain from what I did. I wouldn't take one back one punch. Not one. ...

"... And the doctors all talk about, 'Somebody could die'—I got news for all the doctors. We're all gonna die. How do you want to live your life? What do you love and what are you passionate about?." (h/t TIME)

But do slap fighters, and fighters in general, really know what they're getting into?

Are Fighters Taking Informed Risks?

Former UFC champ BJ Penn on CTE / Penn on Instagram

"It's ok to choose dangerous things. But the choices should be informed."

- Erik Magraken, Combat Sports Lawyer / X

UFC GOAT Demetrious Johnson believes CTE can be ruled out by a clean MRI scan. Chandler Jones, brother of Jon Jones, believes that CTE is fake and that the 'Traumatic' element could mean anything from childhood abuse to sexual trauma. These are two examples in a sea of misinformation. Awareness of brain damage is one thing, but CTE is woefully misunderstood.

So, the question is, are fighters making informed decisions when participating in MMA and Power Slap? According to a 2020 study, less than 6% of combat sport coaches have proper concussion knowledge.

"Merely 5.7% of coaches properly recognized the level of traumatic brain injury a concussion represents, 68.8% were unfamiliar with any sideline assessment tools, and only 14.3% often seek out concussion knowledge."

Magraken on X

Still, the UFC is making efforts to implement concussion protocols, beginning at the UFC PI in 2021.

"We are slowly aggregating our own insights and our information here in the Performance Institute," Said UFC VP of Performance Duncan French (h/t MMA News). "And we want to share that. We don’t want the PI to become an ivory tower where the information is only retained for a discrete 600 roster of fighters."

Although ongoing studies are deepening our understanding of concussions and CTE, the full impact of modern combat sports has yet to fully emerge.

"CTE is a disease of mileage. It takes time. It progresses. MMA fans are going to see a lot of cruel realities in the upcoming years."

- Erik Magraken / X

Until the condition is fully understood and education is widespread across all levels of the sport, we cannot assume that athletes are making fully informed decisions about the risks they take. While an athlete's autonomy is ultimately their own, we cannot claim to grasp the extent of the dangers involved.

Read More UFC & MMA News

• Michael Chandler & Conor McGregor Get Ugly After Fight Cancellation
  
  
• Michael Chandler Dumps Conor McGregor for Rematch on Jon Jones Card
  
  
• Dana White Reveals Return Date & Event for Jon Jones
  
  
• UFC 306: Sean O'Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili TV Channel, Start Time, Odds
  
  

Stick with MMAKnockout for more FREE coverage of the UFC, MMA, Boxing, WWE, and AEW. Follow MMAKnockout on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.