Dana White has found tremendous success with the UFC in its 30 years of inception. Earlier this year, he introduced yet another combat promotion, Power Slap, which is a slap-fighting league. There were many criticisms and concerns regarding fighters’ health when it came to White’s new promotion. However, veteran UFC referee Mark Smith claimed that the sport was safer in comparison to other combat sports.

Referee Mark Smith used to be a member of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds before diving into MMA. He has been in the Octagon for more than a hundred fights over the past couple of years, and ever since Power Slap was launched, Smith has been one of the most-seen referees on the broadcasts. His experience refereeing those fights made him open up about the safety concerns of athletes. Let’s see what he had to say.

Mark Smith claims Dana White’s Power Slap is safe

During the 15th Annual World MMA Awards, Mark Smith addressed the media regarding his thoughts on people talking about the dangers of Power Slap. He seemed dismissive of those statements and claimed that the slap-fighting league is much safer compared to other combat sports like MMA or boxing.

“It’s safe. So, a three-round fight or maybe a five-round fight versus an MMA fight or boxing match, where they’re taking a lot more potential damage to the head, etc, we’re gonna limit that,” said Mark Smith.

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The veteran referee also mentioned that the people who officiate the Power Slap fights work closely with the fighters. This helps them make assessments of the level of injuries fighters suffer from and even prevents them from getting too serious.

“We’re also gonna be really close to the fighters to evaluate potential injuries and honestly to stop it before it even gets to that point,” Mark Smith added. Not only that, he also revealed what his initial thoughts were when he heard about Power Slap. Let’s have a closer look at that front.

Smith’s initial thoughts about the slap-fighting promotion

The veteran UFC referee mentioned that he did not have much of a hesitancy when Power Slap was first announced. Instead, he was more worried about having the legitimate manpower and procedures to cater to the fighters when they were in need. Mark Smith further added, “Not necessarily reservations. We just wanted to make sure we were all prepared, both the commission, all the officials as well as our doctor, to make sure we’re doing this appropriately as safely as possible for the fighters.”

Nevertheless, Power Slap is still in its initial stages, and the people working on the promotion are still looking to make the sport safer for athletes. Moreover, the officials will also be introducing new gear for the fighters in the coming months. “We still make improvements. There’s some neck guards that are potentially coming out, some hand guards focussing on where they hit. So there are a lot of things we’re [gonna] do to improve the sport [and] to make it safer,” added Mark Smith.

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Dana White once mentioned that the initial reaction to Power Slap was the same as the initial reaction to the UFC back in the 1990s. But we have witnessed how the 54-year-old promoter overcame those challenges with a much more efficient rule set for the battles inside the Octagon. As such, there is no doubt that Power Slap will undergo a similar change to cater to a wide range of audiences, just like the UFC.

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