Power Slap League, a reality show featuring slap-fighters and led by UFC president Dana White, had a nice run during its time on network television. Now it has been confirmed that the show will not be returning for a second season on TBS. The news was first reported by MMA Fighting and later confirmed by TBS media relations to MMA Junkie.
However, the league’s first live-streamed event, Power Slap 1, was held on Saturday at the UFC Apex and was streamed on Rumble, an online video platform. White announced that Rumble will be the home of the reality series for the next two seasons.
“I know the formula for this stuff now,” White told reporters at a news conference after the event. “We’re going to move fast. I’ve got a two-year deal with Rumble. And the Abu Dhabi deal, we’re still working it out with them. But I’d love to do two seasons with them, do Season 2 and Season 3 over there.”
According to White, the viewership for the fight night on Rumble reached a total of 1.1 million views. However, as of now, the video of Power Slap 1 has already accumulated 3.05 million views.
Season 1 of “Power Slap: Road to the Title,” which consisted of eight episodes and premiered on January 18th, was shown after All Elite Wrestling and had an average viewership of 293,500 per episode.
Power Slap League: The Beginning
The launch of the series got the approval of slap fighting from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) in October. Despite this, it was met with criticism from several health professionals, including concussion expert Chris Nowinski, who described it as “sad” and labeled it as “exploitative.”
Stephen Cloobeck, a former chairman of the NAC who gave the approval of slap fighting, was recently in regret in an interview with the Associated Press, calling the decision “a mistake.” Cloobeck resigned from his position in early 2023.
In January 2023, White’s slap-fighting venture premiered on TBS, airing at 10 p.m. EST. The final episode of the season had an average of 220,000 viewers with a .05 rating among the 18-49-year-old demographic. The viewership numbers for the show fluctuated throughout the season and gradually declined with each episode.
Despite the less-than-satisfactory TV ratings, Dana is happy with the show’s performance on social media platforms. He claims that Power Slap has outperformed the UFC and other sports online. He also held the opinion that the show’s TV ratings shouldn’t have received as much criticism as they did.
