Dana White’s Power Slap League started streaming on January 18, which was one week delayed due to the UFC president’s wife-beating controversy.
After the first episode aired, people both inside and outside of combat sports began criticizing the event for the participant’s safety.
Dana White’s Power Slap premiere averaged 295,000 viewers and 0.10 in the 18-49 demo on TBS, ranking #45 among cable originals.
Lead-in from AEW was 969k and 0.31., per Showbuzz
— John Pollock (@iamjohnpollock) January 19, 2023
After the first episode went on air, it generated 295k average views, which ranked the show in fourth place on the most popular list.
Amidst this fierce criticism, the show aired its second episode, which generated 413k average views, which is nearly 130k higher than the previous one.
For those curious, Power Slap (which follows #AEWDynamite) numbers were actually up considerably from last week. The show averaged 413K viewers (⬆️40% from last week) with a 0.13 P18-49 rating (⬆️30%)
— Raj Giri (@TheRajGiri) January 26, 2023
The views really represent the comment of the UFC president that people have an interest in this sport, and as the UFC is heavily investing to ensure the safety of the sport, they just need to make people aware of the league.
“These are all the things we need to educate people on, just like we needed to educate people on mixed martial arts. But, in slap, they take 3-5 slaps per event. Fighters in boxing take 300-400 punches a fight. If you don’t f**king like it, don’t watch it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN8zYuWm65E
Last week, the American millionaire responded to critics by praising the NSAC for making the correct decision in approving the Power Slap League, and White even mentioned that some big names in combat sports have expressed interest in the PSL.
“It’ll be regulated exactly like this sport is. I saw a lot of the goofballs talking s**t—goofballs being media guys—talking about, ‘What’s next, mallets?’ Stupid s**t like that.”
“The bottom line is, in a boxing match, guys get hit with 300-400 punches in a f**king fight. These guys are going to get hit with three slaps. For these morons to be talking all the s**t that they are about the athletic commission, the athletic commission did the right thing. So did we.”
