Dana White admits he "f*cked" up with Power Slap vs. Real Madrid claim after major fan backlash
Dana White recently admitted that he made a mistake when comparing the Power Slap League's social media following to Real Madrid's numbers. White initially made a bold claim that Power Slap had more followers than every single professional sports team in the world.
For context, White recently appeared on Andrew Schulz's Flagrant podcast and opened up about the success of his controversial slap-fighting league. He praised Power Slap's growth over the past 15 months and claimed the league has a larger social media following than every professional sports team. Upon being asked if that included football giants like Real Madrid, White said:
"I don't know about the soccer teams, but I would say yes. Every f***ing sports team, we have more followers, so I would say yes."
Soon after clips of his statements began circulating on social media, the UFC CEO came under public heat for his tall claims, and many sports fans pointed out that what he said wasn't true.
Recently, X-based sports commentator and investor Joe Pompliano called White out on his inaccurate comments. He pointed out that Real Madrid had 162 million followers on Instagram compared to Power Slap's 4 million followers. The UFC CEO soon took to the post's comments section and admitted his mistake. He wrote:
"Meant to say views. Yes, I f*cked that one up."
When Dana White made similar claims about the Power Slap League's social media presence
This isn't the first time Dana White has made bold claims about the Power Slap League's numbers. He previously claimed that his slap-fighting league put up bigger numbers than some of the world's most popular sports leagues combined.
After the UFC 288 event last year, White addressed the media at a press conference and spoke about Power Slap's success. Claiming that the slap-fighting league outperformed the NFL, NBA, WWE, and other sports combined, he said:
"If you take the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, F1, WWE and, who am I forgetting, and added them all together, their [social media] numbers don't compare to Slap's."
Catch Dana White's comments below (11:15):
The Power Slap League, which premiered in January 2023, is widely known as White's brainchild. Fans and fighters have criticized the sport for the risk of brain trauma it poses for participants.