You can add New Zealand heavyweight boxer Sonny Bill Williams to the list of athletes that disapprove of Dana White’s Power Slap League.
The former professional rugby league and rugby union player recently took to Twitter asking fans if they would allow their children to compete in the quote-unquote sport that some have called nothing more than sanctioned brain trauma.
“Rugby & league fans think about this? Would you let your children compete in it? It’s a big NO for me.”
Rugby & league fans think about this?
Would you let your children compete in it? It’s a big NO for me. https://t.co/qJQLYHGpqK— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) February 4, 2023
Australian boxer Bill Dip responded to the tweet saying, “Absolutely not. This is not sport this is stupidity.”
The two sports stars from the land(s) down under are just the latest athletes to come out against Dana White’s latest pet project. Others openly speaking out against the controversial league include former UFC referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy, Josh Thomson, No. 1 ranked bantamweight Sean O’Malley, and Francis Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick. Fighters Eric Spicely and Taylor Guardado also criticized the league over its embarrassingly low purses, paying competitors a meager $2,000 to show and $2,000 to win.
Despite being critically panned by everyone except Anthony Smith, the UFC president has stood by Power Slap and has responded to the condemnation in true Dana White fashion.
“I saw a lot of the goofballs talking sh*t — goofballs being media guys — talking about, ‘What’s next, mallets?’ Stupid sh*t like that,” White said in an interview with MMA Fighting. The bottom line is, in a boxing match, guys get hit with 300-400 punches in a f*cking fight. These guys are going to get hit with three slaps.
“For these morons to be talking all the sh*t that they are about the athletic commission, the athletic commission did the right thing. So did we. We run right toward regulation, regulate the sport to make sure it’s safe for everybody — because a lot of people are going to get involved in this just like they did MMA.”