Dana White stays adamant Energy Slap will surpass UFC

LAS VEGAS – The Energy Slap promotion championed by UFC CEO Dana White received an enormous enhance this previous Friday.

When former UFC fighter Paige VanZant made her slap combating debut in Las Vegas, she grew to become arguably the most well-liked social media determine to compete within the promotion. VanZant landed the cleaner photographs over three rounds and gained a unanimous resolution over Christine Wolmarans by a trio of 30-25 scores at Fontainebleau Lodge & On line casino.

VanZant’s reputation on OnlyFans, in addition to different social media platforms, as properly fights for BKFC, made her a celeb slapper of kinds, and White thinks it’s another rung on the ladder to make Energy Slap probably greater than the UFC over time, he stated.

“I stated it – return. A few of you have been there and heard me within the early days,” White stated after Energy Slap 8. “I stated, ‘This would be the largest sport on the planet. This will probably be greater than the UFC. This will probably be greater than the UFC.’ Now you may bear in mind I stated that, all people will probably be like, ‘Oh, he’s a f*cking nut,’ and all that sh*t. After which I’ll see you in a couple of years and we’ll discuss once more.

“That is a type of occasions – it’s just like the UFC once more. After we placed on a reside occasion, no person leaves a UFC reside occasion and goes, ‘Yeah, I don’t ever wish to see one in every of these once more.’ That’s the identical factor with the Energy Slap. It continues to develop. This was our eighth occasion. We’ve solely performed eight occasions. And if you happen to take a look at the success of this factor and simply eight reveals, we are going to get higher each time we do it. The athletes will get higher. There will probably be people who come that proceed to attract and folks wish to see Slap. It’s all simply an enormous work in progress. It can simply get higher each time we do it.”

White thinks somebody like VanZant, who has north of three million Instagram followers, may help increase the bar, both by attendance or competitors. Since she left the UFC, VanZant has been recognized for her reputation as a social media influencer as a lot as her fight sports activities pursuits, if no more, and he or she has talked overtly about making extra money in 24 hours on OnlyFans than she did when she was within the UFC.

White is banking on social media to attract new followers, not conventional media.

“It’s like all of the slap fighters vs. the world,” White stated. “All people’s speaking sh*t on the web and f*cking writing sh*tty tales and all that stuff. I inform these guys, ‘F*cking embrace it. It’s lovely. It’s an important factor. what you don’t need? The blokes who write no f*cking tales and don’t say something about it.’ We’re constructing this sport a totally totally different approach, and it’s not constructed by way of the media. We’re not constructing this sport by way of media. That is the way forward for how sports activities are going to be constructed, and I’m displaying the entire f*cking world the way it’s performed.

“All people that you just usher in, particularly any person that already has a sure stage of fame and a sure stage of followers, you appeal to new individuals to it. There’s little doubt about it. Tonight in that room, essentially the most highly effective influencers on the planet are in that room each time we placed on an occasion. These youngsters create content material for a residing. That’s what they do, and nothing goes extra viral, irrespective of who you’re, what number of followers you might have (than Energy Slap).”