Dana White’s power slap “is expected to make its pay-per-view debut in March,” with the league’s success growing

According to a report, Power Slap will hold its first-ever pay-per-view event following the success of slap-fighting.

According to Sports Illustrated, the first pay-per-view event will take place on Saturday, March 11th at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The debut of Power Slap means the main card of UFC’s Fight Night, which will be overwritten by a crunch bantamweight bout between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili, will be rescheduled earlier and instead at 6 p.m. ET from The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas running.

Dana White’s Power Slap will be holding its first-ever pay-per-view event on March 11th

Slap Fighting has continued to grow since the debut of White’s show Power Slap: Road To The Title

The bantamweight bout between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili will take place at 6pm ET

Power Slap’s first-ever champions will be crowned at the pay-per-view event in four different weights – heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight.

Two trainers of UFC President Dana White’s Power Slap: Road To The Title, undefeated slap fighter Darius ‘The Destroyer’ Mata-Varona and ‘Wolverine’ Ron Bata will fight for the heavyweight title.

The show’s debut was delayed a week after White was caught in a video hitting his wife during a New Year’s Eve argument at a nightclub.

The show will run for eight weeks, with the finale scheduled for March 8 on TBS, just in time for the first pay-per-view.

The event includes heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight bouts

The power slap league has drawn criticism from fight fans and non-fans alike since it hit television screens.

Chris Nowinski, a Harvard Ph.D. and former wrestler who has criticized the sports world’s handling of concussions, recently criticized a clip in which a fighter, Chris Kennedy, appeared to be showing immediate signs of a significant head injury known as a fencing stance.

“This is so sad,” tweeted Nowinski, the co-founder and president of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “Note the fencing stance at the first brain injury. He may never be the same.”

Consultant neurologist Professor Nikos Evangelou, from Nottingham University Hospital in the UK, also raised concerns, telling Sky News: “One of the problems with power slap is that participants are penalized if they move or flinch. Any movement that might lessen the effect of the blow to the head will be penalized.”

A viral clip showed Romanian fighter Sorin Comsa left with a bloodied and disfigured face after receiving a brutal beating at another promotion

Chris Nowinski, a Harvard Ph.D. and a former wrestler had an issue with a recent clip in which one fighter, Chris Kennedy, appeared to be showing immediate signs of a significant head injury known as a fencing stance

He said hitting the head at an angle can cause rotational forces on the brain – which he says is a “recipe for disaster”.

However, despite the controversy, the league has taken off with skyrocketing viewership for the second episode on TBS.

The debut episode on January 18 drew 297,000 viewers, while episode two drew an average of 413,000 viewers.

Meanwhile, Google searches for “slap fighting” are up 239 percent over the past year, according to data from WSN.

After backlash from fans and health experts, White assured them the Power Slap League Commission was working to improve safety procedures.

White insisted to fans and health experts on social media that the sport will improve safety

On Instagram, White responded to a comment expressing his concern by writing, “I hear you. The Commission is working on it. Everyone is in a learning process. You’ve learned a lot since the March event and you’ll see that as the show goes on. But you are absolutely NOT wrong.’

Former fighter Eric Spicely, who had seven fights in the UFC between 2016 and 2019, tweeted that he received a verbal offer to compete in the brutal $1,997 slap fighting show, and then you double your money if you win.

Spicely turned down the offer, before describing the payment as “damn nuts” – given how viral clips from the “sport” have shown competitors suffering from enormously swollen and disfigured faces as a result of the unguarded and severe beating.