02 February 2023 , 16:14
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Fans have mocked the UFC's social media blunder after the promotion uploaded a video promoting the new Power Slap league with Dana White's photo and an unfortunate caption.
The UFC boss has been a key player in having slap-fighting regulated in Nevada, and recently launched a new show around his own show Power Slap. But prior to the league's launch he found himself in hot water when he was forced to apologise after a video emerged showing him slapping his wife Anne at a nightclub on New Years' Eve.
And the promotion's official YouTube channel recently posted a video hyping the latest episode of their Power Slap show, with the thumbnail showing a photo of White accompanied by a caption that reads: "This guy is a power slap star". The video received hundreds of comments within hours of being uploaded, with a huge portion joking about the unfortunate thumbnail.
"With Dana’s incident, the marketing and the goofiness, this league has become an actual meme," one fan wrote, with another sending a more pointed message that it "Can't be overstated how embarrassing this is". Another commenter wrote: "The thumbnail is PURE GOLD.... someone's getting fired."
White was filmed in a Cabo San Lucas nightclub slapping his wife during an altercation for which he later apologised publicly in an interview with TMZ and at a public press conference. Footage showed shows Mrs. White covering her face before her husband takes hold of her wrists. Mrs. White responds by slapping her other half before he reacts in the same way.
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Critics have since called for White to be punished for the incident, with the California Legislative Women’s Caucus even demanding he should be removed as UFC president. Addressing his punishment, White told reporters: "What should the repercussions be? You tell me. I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me? Do I need to reflect? No, I don’t need to reflect.
"I’ve been against this. I’ve owned this. I’m telling you that I’m wrong. Nobody’s happy about this. What is my punishment? Here’s my punishment: I’ve got to walk around for however long I live and this is how I’m labelled now. My other punishment is that, I’m sure a lot of people who had respect for me, might not have respect for me now.
"There’s a lot of things that I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life that are way more of a punishment than what, I take a 30-day [or a] 60-day absence? That’s not a punishment to me. The punishment is that I did it, and now I have to deal with it.”
White's Power Slap league has come in for controversy in a sporting sense as well, with early episodes showing competitors taking vicious injuries and suffering brutal knockouts. The show has drawn meagre ratings on American TV, and is only viewable in the UK on streaming site Rumble.