Things I watch too much on social media: the chubby one-armed monkey Xing Xing from China, AI-generated images of Lana Del Rey’s alcoholic Russian alias Svetlana Del Rey, and “power slap” duels. I am most ashamed of the latter.
The martial art of power slap involves two people taking turns giving each other ear files. The recipient of the blow must keep his hands behind his back, and most of the time collapses, as the opponent’s palm hits the ear and the archways that control the sense of balance.
Power slap has become a success since Dana White, head of the MMA organization UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), six years ago saw videos of Russians and Poles slapping each other hard in the face. Those clips had hundreds of thousands of views, so White decided to commercialize the contests. Power slap’s own YouTube channel got two million subscribers in 13 months (compared to the NHL which needed 15 years to get that many).
Same weekend as The Super Bowl was played in Las Vegas, Power Slap 6 was held in the same city. Rapper Travis Scott was in attendance and went viral when, after watching one woman slap another, he looked around the room with a look that said, “How can anyone think this is okay?”
He is not the only one who wonders that. Doctors warn that strong washes can cause brain damage. In 2021, the Polish colossus Artur “Waluś” Walczak died after being knocked unconscious in the Punch Down 5 competition. Even the MMA enthusiasts, who had to wait significantly longer before their sport was approved by American sports commissions, are critical.
“In boxing, you train defense to take as little damage as possible,” writes one of them. “Slap matches are just about who can hit the hardest and get hit the most without falling over.” Another points out that several who have collapsed stretch one arm upwards and the other towards the body, a reflex that usually indicates brain damage. “What comes next?” asks a doctor on Twitter. “Should we compete to see who can take the most stabs with a knife?”
Dana White’s goal was to establish a sport entirely via social media. Then maybe stupidity was a prerequisite for success? Many people watching don’t care who wins, they’re just fascinated by how bloated faces can get from hard cheers. Some see the sport as the ultimate proof that our civilization is doomed. It had taken place in the movie “Idiocracy”, where an average person is frozen in a military experiment, wakes up after five hundred years and discovers that humanity has become so stupid that he himself is a genius.
I show a clip to financial journalist and kickboxer Magdalena Kowalczyk who notes that the participants in the power slap are not particularly fit. And no, they resemble random bean lips riveting each other in a bar. Some critics have said, with some class disdain, that power slap is the sport of Southerners who habitually bitch-slap their lifemates. Just before the competitions were launched, Dana White and his wife were filmed, poignantly enough, fighting outside on premises.
So I shouldn’t look but can’t help it. Power slap reminds, oddly enough, of something poetic. I don’t understand what until one day when I’m listening to New Order and suddenly remember the video for their hit “True faith”. In it, two men stand dressed in colorful mattresses and give each other ear files in time with the beat. The video was made by the choreographer Philippe Decouflé and he was inspired by the performance work “Light/dark” from 1977 where Marina Abramović and her partner Ulay gave each other dishes.
In other words, power slap probably doesn’t deserve to be called sport – but maybe it is art?
Read more chronicles and other texts by Fredrik Strage
