Dana White points to Power Slap and boxing as UFC-style growth bets

UFC President and Chief Executive Dana White said Power Slap’s global social-media traction and advertiser uptake have made the slap-fighting property a potential growth engine alongside mixed martial arts. Speaking Thursday at the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit in New York, White said Power Slap could reach a scale comparable with UFC, citing large audiences on YouTube and TikTok.

White told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin that Power Slap has produced what he described as the most-watched sports short on YouTube and the most-watched sports post on TikTok. He said the property is already operating internationally and drawing social traffic at levels that have exceeded his initial expectations.

Power Slap features two competitors standing across a table on a padded stage and taking turns delivering open-handed strikes. Bouts end when one competitor cannot continue or recover within the rules of the contest. The format has gained attention through short clips that travel well on social platforms, a distribution pattern White said helped persuade him there was a commercial opportunity.

Social reach draws sponsors

Social media analytics platform Socialpruf said Power Slap generated 1.88 billion impressions over the past year. The platform also reported nearly 40 million likes on its posts and estimated $48 million in earned media value.

White said advertising support has developed faster than he expected. He told the summit that Power Slap has attracted more sponsors in its first two years than UFC did across its first decade. Brands cited in connection with the property include Anheuser-Busch, Monster Energy, VeChain, Circa Sports and 500 Casino.

White said he initially saw slap-fighting clips on social media in 2017 and 2018. He told CNBC that his interest grew because he wanted to see who won the contests, and because view counts on YouTube were already very high. That led him to approach the Fertitta brothers, former UFC owners, about investing in the business. Power Slap launched in 2022.

On recruiting participants, White said he is looking at athletes and performers accustomed to physically demanding events, including independent wrestlers. He said toughness, grit and the ability to absorb pain are central to the talent pool he is targeting.

Boxing becomes the nearer-term test

White is also leading an investment in Zuffa Boxing, a venture intended to apply UFC’s centralized operating model to boxing. He said the new boxing business, which is scheduled to hold its first event in January, may offer a stronger short-term opportunity than Power Slap because he believes boxing has been poorly organized for years.

Under a centralized combat-sports model, one operator controls matchmaking, promotion, event presentation and media packaging more directly than in boxing’s traditional promoter-by-promoter structure. White argued that fragmentation among boxing promoters has limited the sport’s commercial efficiency, even though individual fights and cards can generate substantial revenue.

White told CNBC that after six months working on Zuffa Boxing, he better understood why the sport has struggled structurally. He said rival promoters were less sophisticated than he expected and compared the economics of some events to a one-off liquidation rather than a repeatable business system.

White also said his combat-sports properties aim to improve fighter economics. He said Power Slap participants were competing without pay before he acquired the companies involved and are now paid well. He added that UFC fighter pay has risen since the business was acquired, according to his account.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.