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Exclusive: Neurosurgeons React to Power Slap & Respond to Dana White

Medical experts review Power Slap dangers and reply to Dana White calling their research 'attention-seeking'

Mathew Riddle

Slap (Power Slap)

Since its debut in January 2023, Dana White's Power Slap has faced significant scrutiny, along with growing medical research aimed at understanding and assessing the risks of participation.

In the 1990s, the UFC worked to legitimize the sport of MMA, distancing itself from the 'human cockfighting' label given by Senator John McCain. Now, with the emergence of Power Slap, it appears the narrative has come full circle, leaving medical experts astonished by what they are observing.

A recent video analysis published to JAMA Surgery concluded with relative confidence that 78.6 percent of Power Slap participants from Seasons 1-5 exhibited visible signs of concussion. MMA Knockout's Mat Riddle had the opportunity to speak with two of the doctors behind the study, Dr Nitin Agarwal, M.D., and Dr Raj Lavadi, M.D., to discuss their findings further.

Why Power Slap?

"We were initially approached [in 2022] by the Washington Post because Dana White was going to launch Power Slap in 2023," Dr Lavadi explained. " ... I was originally attracted to this activity from my late high school, early medical school time.

"At that time I wasn't really aware of the concussion risks and burden to these participants, but when I joined the Agarwal lab, my eyes really opened to more and more about traumatic brain injury and the research associated with it. So that got me inspired because there was a lot of attention surrounding this promotion of Power Slap, so why not pursue actually quantify the visible signs of concussion... And offer objective data to this conversation."

Dr Agarwal added that he initially knew nothing about slap fighting, but was "horrified" when he found out, and aims to use the research to spread public awareness of the dangers.

"And when I look into it, I was horrified because we're promoting actually just slapping each other without any self defense," Dr Agarwal remarked. "I thought, horrified, comical.

"... I'm really glad that Raj encouraged us to study this further so we can actually quantify the risks, of well, what does it mean when you get slapped and how much does it actually affect you? And obviously nobody wants to be slapped, but what are the invisible risks?

"What is the invisible damage to the brain and most importantly, to spread public awareness so that people in backyards and playgrounds don't start slapping each other for fun."

The Dangers of Second-Impact Syndrome

Second-impact syndrome is where an individual suffers a second head trauma before fully recovering from the first. In the case of Power Slap, participants can be seen hitting their heads off the podium or the ground after being knocked unconscious. But this happens in UFC and boxing, so why is it particularly dangerous in Power Slap?

"I wanna not even just highlight the second impacts from repetitive injury," Dr Agarwal explained. "But after somebody gets slapped and slams their head on the stand, that alone is just a shocking factor and concerns me.

"... If you get hit, you got 60 seconds to recover and get back up so you can get hit again. Forget about the second impact syndrome. We're looking at a third, fourth, fifth. How many repetitive hits before we get some attention to make this safer? And quite frankly, I'm not even sure you can make it safer."

Exclusive: Neurosurgeons React to Power Slap, Respond to Dana White
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Doctors Want to Collaborate with Power Slap for Medical Trials

The team acknowledged in their study that it has "certain limitations," primarily due to using video analysis which could be perceived as subjective. As Dr Agarwal explained, they would like to collaborate on some level using medical instruments, extending their work from analysis to practical medical trials.

"... We want to put instrumented mouth guards into these combatants, so we can measure what is the actual forces they're sustaining when they get hit. So we we would like to recruit as many of these combatants as possible. So they have some awareness too about the the risks they're putting themselves through."

Dr Agarwal later added that it would be "phenomenal" for the fighters and the public to know the real risks associated with the sport.

"... I think participants are curious about the impacts even if they don't believe there are any, I think they are curious about [the impacts] and also their own health. So yeah, I would invite anybody who would like to obtain more information in the interest of safety to collaborate with us for sure."

Doctors Respond to Dana White Dismissing Their Study as 'Attention Seeking'

In the wake of UFC 307, UFC CEO Dana White was prompted by a reporter about the team's analysis. White was unfortunately misled about the extent of their research, believing they only watched the first episode of Power Slap to draw their conclusions.

White responded by exclaiming that the doctors "know nothing about the medicals or what we do, or any of the studies we've done. Sounds like these typical doctors that look for attention."

"I actually respect a lot with what Dana White has done with growing the UFC and those types of things," Dr Agarwal responded. "But I would ask him, has he ever participated in, in slap boxing? You know, from what I've looked at with Dana White, he actually was a boxer back in his early youth and then was worried about the effects of neurodegeneration and was put off by the idea of being a punch-drunk boxer.


"I would really encourage him to recruit people like us to help him realise the effects of this, but you know, the question is really has Mr. White participated in in the activity that he is promoting?"

Dr Agarwal later elaborated on his stance.

"[I'm] just still shocked about [White's comments about knowing nothing about medicals or studies], I think that I would like him to provide more information. What is the actual literature on on medical literature on what's been done and what have the studies been?

"... Who are the neurology or neurosurgery professionals or [Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation] doctors saying that this is safe? I have not seen one from the specialties that deal with traumatic brain injury come out and say this is a safe activity. I think the whole goal with this is awareness to prevent harm."

What the Experts Want From the Media

Dr Agarwal explained that the media would greatly benefit from "roundtable discussions" with sports participants.

"I would like to get more information from the actual public, you know, one of my partners mentioned that his child actually said that slap fighting is now on popular youth games and that's just horrifying to me."

'Video Analysis of Concussion Among Slap Fighting Athletes' can be found on JAMA Surgery. It is the collective work of Raj Swaroop Lavadi, MBBS, Rohit Prem Kumar, BA, Michael R. Kann, BE, Manan J. Shah, MD, D. Kojo Hamilton, MD, Joseph C. Maroon, MD, and Nitin Agarwal, MD.

The full, uninterrupted interview with more talking points can be viewed on the MMA Knockout YouTube channel:

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Mathew Riddle
MATHEW RIDDLE

Mathew is a UK-based combat sports journalist  and graphic designer. He joined MMAKO when it was first founded in 2023. Find his work on The Fight Fanatic & Heavy on UFC. He can be contacted on mr@thefightfanatic.com

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