WWE star-turned CTE neuroscientist Chris Nowinski outright shames Dana White for "exploiting" slap fighters
Dana White's Power Slap League aired on US cable TV on Wednesday. Former WWE wrestler turned neuroscientist Chris Nowinski has slammed the controversial sport of slap fighting in subsequent comments.
Nowinski uploaded an edited clip compiling some of the most vicious knockouts from the premiere episode of Power Slap: Road to the Title. The CTE specialist noted that the first athlete in the video to be knocked out immediately goes into the fencing position.
Named after an infant posture, the fencing response occurs when the victim suffers an impact strong enough to cause traumatic brain injury. According to Nowinski, the athlete in question may never be the same again. The former pro-wrestler wrote on Twitter:
"This is so sad. Note the fencing posture with the first brain injury. He may never be the same. @danawhite & @TBSNetwork should be ashamed. Pure exploitation. What's next, "Who can survive a stabbing"?"
This is so sad. Note the fencing posture with the first brain injury. He may never be the same. @danawhite & @TBSNetwork should be ashamed. Pure exploitation. What's next, "Who can survive a stabbing"? https://t.co/jTENpUmJDd
Dana White's Power Slap League, originally supposed to air on January 11 on TBS, was pushed back a week after the UFC president was caught on camera slapping his wife multiple times.
Meanwhile, Nowinski seemingly started expressing his grouse following a viral video which showed a gruesome swelling in the face of a slap fighter from another promotion.
I believe adults can choose to do dangerous jobs if they understand the risks & reasonable efforts are made to protect them.
But head hits with no defense is just sad. It reminds us that people who don't take the risks often exploit those who do. https://t.co/nC8xNWKimF
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Dana White's response to critics of slap fighting
Slap Fighting has been criticized as a senseless sport due to the athlete's complete inability to defend themselves against direct head hits. However, that did not stop the CEO of the biggest MMA promotion in the world from venturing into the sport.
Dana White has gone ahead with his Power Slap League regardless of the overall criticism surrounding the sport combined with his recent slap incident. To those with a problem, the UFC head honcho's message is clear: don't watch it. The 53-year-old said in a recent interview:
"We spend the money to make sure we have two healthy people in there and proper medical attention during and after the fight. These are all the things we need to educate people on, just like we needed to educate people on mixed martial arts. In Slap, they take three-to-five slaps per event. Fighters in boxing take 300-400 punches per fight. And guess what: you know what my answer to that is? If you don’t f*cking like it, don’t watch it! Nobody’s asking you to watch this. Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch ‘The Voice.’”
Catch Dana White's comments below:
https://t.co/ZYdHl6SNGy