Caught With an Open Lie, Dana White Is Forced to Come Clean on Power Slap Reality

Slap fighting has often put the UFC CEO, Dana White, in a bad light. However, the venture did prove to carry itself with big numbers. Despite the criticism it gets, Power Slap is indeed one of the most-watched sports. But there was a blunder that had the UFC head honcho under fire.

Recently, White declared that Power Slap had more fan following than every other professional sport. But soon, the outright lie was caught by the netizens, who didn’t falter to give out the numbers from Instagram. However, White had a backup plan. Although he admitted that the call-out was a good one, he clarified that he was indeed in the right footing. It was just about views instead of fan-following. 

Dana White gets under fire for comparing Power Slap with Real Madrid

During a recent conversation with Andrew Schulz, White revealed that he believed Power Slap had more followers than any other professional sports team. White said, “This thing absolutely dominates. We have more followers than every single professional sport. Every professional sports team, we have more followers than them, in 15 months.”

As surprising as it may be, the world was in for a bit more action, when Schulz asked white if the fan following was more than that of Real Madrid or any other soccer team. And the UFC CEO affirmed. He claimed, “I don’t know about the soccer teams, but I would say yes. Yeah. Every f***king sports team, we have more followers. So, I would say yes.”

However, things took a turn when the world began criticizing White for his words. The video of the conversation found its way to X and the host of ‘The Joe Pomp Show’, Joe Pompliano, happened to come across the video. He pointed out that Real Madrid had 162 million followers, while White’s slapping venture had only 4 million followers. Realizing the error, the UFC head honcho swooped to the comments section and clarified that he meant “views” and not “followers”. Nevertheless, White commended Pompliano for the call-out.

Without a doubt, White wouldn’t have spoken if he wasn’t backed by the numbers, right? Although he clarified that he meant views, the fan following on social media is quite a lot for Power Slap. The slap fight promotion has garnered 2.58 million subscribers on YouTube, and 3.9 million followers on Instagram. Despite slap fighting lagging behind on Instagram, it has certainly overtaken sports like NHL, and PGA Tour, on YouTube. But did you know that Power Slap was also compared to Taylor Swift’s videos?

UFC CEO compares Power Slap with Taylor Swift

One of Power Slap’s videos overtook the beloved pop singer’s most-viewed video on Instagram. The battle between Sheena Bathory and Christine Wolmarans, in October 2023, outperformed one of Swift’s songs. The video showed Bathory blowing a kiss to Wolmarans after getting slapped with a heavy hand. It blew the netizen’s minds as the video has now garnered over 176 million views on IG. While Swift’s most viewed video amassed a bit over 91 million last year. 

White in a conversation with Sebastian Maniscalco, White revealed that he began the slapping venture with just a million dollars from himself and each of the Fertitta brothers. But soon, the endeavor went up to $750 million. He revealed. “So we all gotta pony up a million bucks each and get this thing started. That was 13 months ago; it’s a $750 million business [today].”

Despite the criticism it got, Power Slap has apparently succeeded in becoming a profitable business for Dana White. What are your thoughts on White’s claims on Power Slap having more viewership than the videos of soccer teams? Let us know in the comments down below.