PFL co-founder Donn Davis has made the rounds in the media comparing PFL to the UFC. From comparing PFL’s numbers to the UFC to poking at White for not wanting to make a super fight between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou, Davis has not stopped speaking about the UFC.

“The PFL should keep the UFC out of their mouth. They can’t even deal with Power Slap. Power Slap destroys PFL,” White told reporters at his post-Power Slap press conference.

White showed up with some stats to support his statements making most think that he knew the question was coming.

“First of all let’s start with followers. Power Slap has 19.2 million followers. PFL has 10 (million). Video views. PFL fight week did 326 million. Power Slap 8 did 690 million. PFL fight week Instagram views 76 million,” he said.

PFL fight week having 76 million views was fight week and the aftermath and Power Slap 9 did 68 million just the week of the event according to White.

PFL hosted soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and made sure to put him front-and-center on as many cameras as possible. White noticed.

“PFL’s Instagram reel with Francis and Ronaldo did 14 million views. Power Slap 9’s Instagram reel with Contender Isaiah had 22 million views,” he said.

 

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White switched gears to the UFC.

“UFC Vegas 84 at the APEX beat them. I understand and I love the stuff that he said. He sounds like Kamala (Harris). Talks a lot, but says nothing,” he said.

“I would hate to be one of that guy’s investors.”

White wasn’t done as he looked to put the nail in the coffin on his verbal assault of Davis.

“I don’t watch MMA. I’ve worked seven years haven’t taken a vacation. You should probably take a vacation. You’re out of your f*cking mind,” he said mocking Davis saying he doesn’t watch MMA.

“He doesn’t beat Power Slap in revenue, he doesn’t beat Power Slap in ticket sales, he doesn’t beat Power Slap in sponsorship. He doesn’t beat Power Slap in anything let alone the UFC.”

Dana White is likely not done firing back at Davis.

The post Dana White Goes In On PFL’s Donn Davis At Power Slap appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ian Garry earns a comedy rap track

Does this mean Ian Garry has made it as a crossover star? We’re not so sure. But Garry’s beef with Sean Strickland, with the UFC middleweight champ suggesting Garry’s wife is a predatory cougar, resulted in a comedy rap track from Tyler Cassidy.

“Y’all watch out now, there’s a cougar down there. She done got herself a calf. Ain’t that a damn shame,” the track begins, before breaking into “somebody save Ian, because I don’t wanna see him, with a 40-year old gold diggin’ European.”

Well then. Garry, 26, has stuck by his wife Layla, 40, through the revelation she had published a book entitled “How to Be a WAG.” In this context, “WAG” stands for “wives and girlfriends” (generally of rich/notable people). The book, just a few pages long, was later claimed to be meant as a joke.

Belal Muhammad to serve as UFC 296 back-up

One of the better decisions by UFC brass in recent years is to pay fighters to serve as back-ups for the promotion’s bigger fights. With Colby Covington and welterweight champ Leon Edwards set to face off at UFC 296 next weekend, it’s top contender Belal Muhammad serving as back-up.

Plenty would argue it’s Muhammad, not Covington, who is more deserving of a title shot that “Chaos,” but the UFC is siding with the fighter who will move more tickets.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Muhammad revealed he was given less than two week’s notice, saying “they just hit me up Friday” asking if he could weigh in for UFC 296.

CSAC gives green light to slap-fighting, bare-knuckle boxing in California

The California State Athletic Commission has approved two forms of unarmed combat to be regulated in the state.

Following legalization in Florida, New York, and other states, the California commission passed, 6-0, a vote for the state regulate bare-knuckle boxing this week. MMA Fighting was first to report news of the development.

With Bare Knuckle FC (BKFC) leading the charge, bare-knuckle fighting has seen a massive resurgence in popularity over the past few years. Former UFC stars including Mike Perry, Luke Rockhold, Paige VanZant, Artem Lobov, and John Dodson have all competed under the BKFC banner, with the promotion exceeding most expectations.

The sport’s comeback has not been without tragedy: 38-year old Justin Thorton died in hospital a month after sustaining spinal injuries in a 2021 BKFC fight that left him paralyzed. An infection in the spinal cord later led to organ failure. Thorton had landed on his head after being on the receiving end of a knockout blow by Dillon Clecker.

Most have recognized the Thorton incident as an unfortunate tragedy that could have happened in any number of contact sports. As for slap-fighting, the sport is built around taking undefended concussive blows to the heard and can barely be called a “combat sport” at all. Despite major controversy, the CSAC also voted in slap-fighting with a 6-0 vote, opening up the state to Dana White’s PowerSlap.

The post Sunday MMA Quick Hits: Ian Garry Rap Track, Muhammad Backs Up UFC 296 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Jose Aldo Is Undefeated

As a professional boxer, that is. Aldo made his boxing debut Friday at a Shoot Brazil Boxing event that aired live on UFC Fight Pass. With a second match already booked for Gamebred Boxing in April, Aldo had a fair amount of attention on him as he took on the little-known (okay, unknown) Alberto Emmanuel Zambrano.

“Scarface” did not disappoint. He cruised past Zambrano, earning a unanimous decision win, with only one judge scoring even a single round for Aldo’s opponent.

Death, taxes, whiffing on punches against Jose Aldo#ShootoBoxing pic.twitter.com/5LwAFJXvtP

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 11, 2023

Onward and upward. Aldo is already talking about an exhibition bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Khamzat Doesn’t Fear “The Reaper,” Wants Whittaker Next

Khamzat Chimaev is chasing a fight with Robert Whittaker, after a potential match-up with Paulo Costa fell through.

“Borz” is billing this as good guy vs. bad guy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoZfyC0BoCZ/

Power Slap Ratings Continue to Tank

Power Slap really only gets mentioned in this column (and essentially nowhere else in this publication) because it’s not MMA-related. It’s barely a sport, and not a very interesting one at that. But what is notable is the amount of time the UFC has spent pushing it through their social media channels — with little to show for it, at least in terms of ratings.

Slap fighting is a sport almost designed for social media — a brief clip of a hard slap can bring the usual ‘ohhs and ahhs’ from scrollers, but does anyone want to sit through an hour-long show of it, including a TUF-style format? Apparently not. The latest Power Slap ratings hit a new low, with the episode losing roughly two thirds of its lead-in on TBS, AEW Dynamite.

The show didn’t even crack the cable top 60 for the night. #68 overall for the week, in fact (via Showbuzz Daily).

We’re not doing a weekly update on this; we haven’t really mentioned Power Slap much since week one, when there was a firestorm of controversy following UFC President Dana White slapping his wife, resulting in the show being pushed back a week. But if ratings continue at this rate, don’t expect to find Power Slap on the TBS calendar next year.

Dillon Danis Did It First

Tommy Fury failed to show up for his pre-fight press conference with Jake Paul. The pair allegedly fight later this month, though Mike Perry has been called in as a back-up fighter.

Quite frankly, Dillon Danis was no-showing press conferences before it was cool. Like, last month.

Okay fine. It was never cool. But it feels like these celebrity boxing bouts get more coverage when things go sideways than when they actually go according to plan. So we figure there’s a good chance it will be Perry in action on Feb. 26. Which might be a more entertaining fight, frankly.

Diaz Camp Responds to Chimaev’s UFC 279 Claims

Khamzat Chimaev recently claimed that Nate Diaz was offered millions to stay in their fight at UFC 279, despite Chimaev badly missing weight. Even though he was the villain of the piece, Khamzat has claimed that a real-life villain, Ramzan Kadyrov, offered Diaz $2 million to stay in the fight.

Is that in Chechen currency, Monopoly money, or U.S. dollars? In any case, a Diaz rep told ESPN the story was a “fairy tale.”

“It is fun fiction for Khamzat. Just lacks a shred of truth, including what he was supposed to make,” wrote Zach Rosenfield in a statement to the outlet. “At what point in Khamzat’s fairy tail (sic) did he ask Nate? When he tapped out of his weight cut at 2am? When he was being hold in isolation at the UFC PI so the story wouldn’t get out? The only millions that were negotiated on that Friday were the millions more we got for fighting Tony [Ferguson] after Khamzat was no professional enough to show up for the fight we asked.

Nate Diaz rep Zach Rosenfield sent ESPN a statement on Khamzat Chimaev’s claims that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov offered Diaz $2 million to take the Chimaev fight back in September after Chimaev missed weight pic.twitter.com/Xu1kF59iuh

— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) February 11, 2023

The post Sunday MMA Quick Hits: Khamzat Doesn’t Fear “The Reaper,” Aldo Wins Boxing Debut appeared first on Cageside Press.

Fred Kirby and Eddie Law talk the move to Cageside Press, and what viewers can expect from the show.

The fellas talk 2023 and, just five days in, the amount of drama that’s already happened in the MMA world. Dana White’s incident in Mexico, Phil Baroni being arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend (also in Mexico), and the consequences and fallout from that.

Additionally they’ll touch on Dillon Danis pulling out of the boxing match with KSI, Ilia Topuria’s bar fight, and Bellator possibly being on the market.

Then they’ll touch on upcoming UFC, Bellator, ONE Championship and PFL events.

Oh, and of course the boys will talk about Jake Paul signing with PFL, offering Nate Diaz a two-fight deal, his role within PFL (as a fighter advocate, while helping to launch the Pay Per View Super-Fight division), and a whole lot more.

Keyboard Warriors is an interactive show so be sure to jump in the chat and hang out while we talk some face-punching!

Watch the show LIVE at 5:30PM PT/8:30PM ET on YouTube, Twitter (@CagesidePress) and Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cagesidepress). Definitely Not Safe for Work — so viewer discretion is advised!

The post Watch Keyboard Warriors Ep. 317 Live Now On YouTube appeared first on Cageside Press.

In November, White, via the UFC PR team, announced that Power Slap would air on TBS starting in early 2023. Eventually, a January 11 launch date was settled on for the debut of the new slapfighting league, which sees unarmed combatants stand across from each other and fire open-handed slaps at each others face, one at a time.

While the concept is as low-brow as they come, the sport has found an audience on social media, with slapfighting promotions popping up across Europe in recent years. However, in light of White’s domestic violence incident — the UFC President was caught on camera slapping wife Anne White twice after she had slapped him during an argument on New Year’s Eve — the TBS premiere date has been postponed.

Currently, the network has pushed Dana White’s Power Slap back to January 18. However, in a statement to the New York Post, TBS spokesperson Jori Arancio confirmed that the cable outlet had “serious discussions” about pulling the plug altogether.

It remains possible that TBS backs out of the partnership completely. Earlier in the day, veteran journalist Jeremy Botter suggested the “death of the deal” was down to “just paperwork at this point.”

A Warner Media source tells me Dana White’s Power Slap series is no longer listed on any internal programming schedules and all ad spots have been dropped. The death of the deal, I’m told, is basically just paperwork at this point.

— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) January 5, 2023

As previously pointed out in this column, it’s become awfully hard to promote a slapfighting league when the man whose name is plastered all over the promotion has been caught on camera slapping his wife.

The situation was made worse, through no fault of the promotion or White, when Phil Baroni, a former UFC fighter and veteran mixed martial artist, was arrested for murder in Mexico shortly after the White incident. While unrelated, the suggestion by Josh Barnett that Baroni might have been suffering from CTE in recent years puts an ugly spotlight on the idea of undefended blows to the head — which is essentially the basis of Dana White’s Power Slap.

The Nevada Athletic Commission, who, it should be noted, has yet to give a green light to bare-knuckle boxing, is permitting slapfighting to take place under its purview. In opting to regulate the sport, the commission is in new territory, with NSAC Chairman Stephen Cloobeck asking UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell, a key figure in Dana White’s Power Slap, to “make sure no one dies” during a November commission meeting.

Following news of Power Slap’s delayed arrival, the fledgling slapfighting promotion opted to release a clip from its upcoming season on social media, reflecting the new air date.

Duane Crespo is a retired U.S. Marine who says MMA saved his life. Now the "Iron Giant" is gunning for the Power Slap heavyweight title!

Read about Duane: https://t.co/8WC6YEXQ66

[ Power Slap: Road to the Title | Coming to TBS Jan 18 ] pic.twitter.com/3lduRYllu7

— UFC (@ufc) January 5, 2023

The post Future of Power Slap in Question, Debut on TBS Delayed Following Dana White Slapping Wife appeared first on Cageside Press.

Dan Hardy’s Boxing Debut Against Diego Sanchez Dropped from Card

Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy will not be returning to combat sports after all. At least, not as planned, and possibly not ever.

Hardy recently revealed that the fight had been dropped from Saturday’s Ricky Hatton vs. Marco Antonio Barrera card, which aired on Sky Sports in the UK. In fact, it was the move to Sky Sports which Hardy believes caused the fight to be cancelled.

“So, basically the card was picked up by Sky Sports,” Hardy told Submission Radio recently (h/t MMA Mania). “And they decided that they wanted the Hatton vs. Barrera [undercard] fights off the card and to add all the rest of their own fights to it. Cause obviously they got a deal with Boxer and they’ve got loads of fighters signed to their management team.

“So yeah, they basically just took the Hatton vs. Barrera fight and they canceled the rest of the fights,” he continued. “I’ve had a bit of a chat with Diego about it. Of course, he was disappointed as well, but you know, it’s the fight game. It’s chaotic at the moment, and with new promoters getting into the businesses, I think sometimes they buy themselves a bit more than they can chew, and I think that’s what happened. I hope it goes really well. But, aside from following Ricky Hatton’s Instagram, I’m not really hearing anything about it.”

A former UFC welterweight title challenger, Hardy last competed in 2012, when he defeated Amir Sadollah via decision that September. He has not competed in any form of combat sports since. Having been diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, Hardy was eventually cleared to return to competition in 2018. Instead, he focused on a broadcast career, but had a falling out with the UFC last year following an argument with a female UFC employee.

The fallout from that dispute saw Hardy released from his fight contract with the promotion — which opened the door to other promotions, including the planned boxing gig. It seems, however, that Hardy may simply walk away from actively competing for good.

“My Mum said it kind of feels like the universe is kind of telling you something here — maybe it is,” he said. “Maybe I’m just clinging onto something. But to be honest, I’m still feeling great, I still feel in good condition, my mind’s sharp, and there are a couple of options for the new year. Yeah, there’s a couple of options, couple of people’s names I’ve got in mind.”

Power Slap launch officially announced, White says he’s been working on sport since 2017

There’s no question that Dana White made a smart decision when he convinced the Fertitta brothers to scoop up the then-struggling UFC in 2001, for a cool $2 million USD. Another smart decision came in 2005 with the launch of The Ultimate Fighter, saving the promotion when it was on the brink of bankruptcy. The UFC is now a $4 billion dollar enterprise and the leading promotion in MMA. White deserves a lot of the credit.

Being honest, Power Slap is unlikely to yield similar results. Dana White has got behind the sport of “slap fighting,” in which participants wind up and slap one another in the fact, undefended.

It’s dumb. It’s a concussion waiting to happen. It’s somehow been regulated, however, and this past week, the UFC announced that Power Slap would run an eight-episode series of events on TBS starting in early 2023.

“I’m very excited for the launch of Power Slap,” Dana White was quoted as saying in a press release this past Friday. “I’ve been working on this since 2017. I saw some footage of slap fighting on social media and I was instantly hooked.  From the first day I saw it, I felt like this could be big. I knew what needed to be done to make it a real sport just like we did with MMA. We got it sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) with defined rules, rankings and weight classes. Power Slap is built for the modern sports fan.”

Sean O’Malley Gets Penile Stem Cell Injection

Welcome to sentences we never wanted to write. Sean O’Malley has always been a little off-beat, but getting stem cells injected into your penis (supposedly to increase girth) just sounds like a bad idea. A really, really bad idea, as any needle to the member should sound.

If you dare, watch the video below for more details.

Slick Submission Alert

KSW 76 on Saturday saw the first-ever Peruvian Necktie submission in the promotion, and it’s definitely worth checking out!

PERUVIAN NECKTIE!!! #KSW76

🇳🇬🇮🇪 Henry Fadipe makes KSW history!! First ever Peruvian necktie submission ever in KSW!! pic.twitter.com/JkWN15BthL

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) November 12, 2022

And a Killer Head Kick

The fun at KSW 76 didn’t stop there, as Artur Szczepaniak finished off Brian Hooi care of a head kick.

HEADKICK KNOCKOUT!! 💥 #KSW76

🇵🇱🇧🇪 @KingArturMMA KO's Brian Hooi! pic.twitter.com/5gEMD7N6xl

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) November 12, 2022

Mike Trizano was barred from wearing American flag cowboy hat at UFC 281 weigh-ins… on Veteran’s Day

File this under good intent gone awry… the UFC banned fighters from carrying flags after Russia invaded Ukraine. That was no doubt to avoid some hurt feelings, as a large number of Russians are under contract to the UFC, and a smaller number of Ukrainian fighters as well.

Out of sight, out of mind, right? A large number of people prefer their sports, and MMA, without a side of politics anyway.

Banning an American flag hat on Veteran’s Day, however, was an unintended side effect that swept up UFC 281 winner Mike Trinzano on weigh-in day. The TUF 27 winner has worn the hat before, but this time out — on a day to remember American troops, of all things — it was a no-go.

Mike Trizano calls it "a little ridiculous" that he was stopped from walking out with his American flag cowboy hat on Veterans Day.

Full #UFC281 post-fight scrum ▶️ https://t.co/SmW5KSMBHW pic.twitter.com/tfad512jph

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) November 13, 2022

Valerie Loureda comments on in-ring debut for WWE

It’s been a year since what appears to have been her final Bellator MMA fight, and on Saturday, Valerie Loureda made her debut for WWE. After the match, she posted an emotional video celebrating the start of her new journey.

“I love what I do, and I was born to do it,” Loureda states in the clip.

Valerie Loureda & her gear 🤩@valerielouredaa pic.twitter.com/BxDgJEUt7W

— Sonya Bayley 🐑🌈 (@SDevilleLive) November 13, 2022

Moicano Wants Money!

In what may have been the GOAT of post-fight interviews, Renato Moicano referred to himself in third person at UFC 281, dropped more F-bombs than a George Carlin routine, kept the ESPN censors busy, and made sure to tell Joe Rogan that he wants money.

Here’s just part of it:

https://twitter.com/JustTheFights/status/1591624418568343552

The post Sunday MMA Quick Hits: Sean O’Malley Did What? Plus Killer Finishes at KSW 76 appeared first on Cageside Press.