Slap Competitions

Steve

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These videos are starting to pop up on social media... Dana White's newest brain child, the Slap competition. Has anyone else seen these? If so, what do you think?
I'll say right now that it appears to be among the stupidest, most dangerous, and irresponsible things I've ever seen.
 

MetalBoar

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These videos are starting to pop up on social media... Dana White's newest brain child, the Slap competition. Has anyone else seen these? If so, what do you think?
I'll say right now that it appears to be among the stupidest, most dangerous, and irresponsible things I've ever seen.
Steve, I'm not sure what to say, I was blissfully unaware of this... phenomenon... until I saw your post. Then I had to Google it to see what it was and then Google some more to see if it was some weird prank, like eating Tide Pods. I'm still not sure if it's real or not, but my response is that apparently you can take a sport combat ruleset to absolute absurdity, but (if the ratings are anything to go by) you can't make people watch.
 

drop bear

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I have heard about it but haven't watched it.

I am not really violently opposed to it.
 

MetalBoar

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I have heard about it but haven't watched it.

I am not really violently opposed to it.
I'm not really opposed to it either. I don't really get it, but I don't have to get it. I've got a number of friends in the kink/BDSM community and some of them are into some things I don't get either. If two consenting adults are into taking turns slapping each other on TV and other people are in to watching it, I don't have a problem with it, I just don't want to be slapped nor slap the average person in this scenario.
 
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Steve

Steve

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Steve, I'm not sure what to say, I was blissfully unaware of this... phenomenon... until I saw your post. Then I had to Google it to see what it was and then Google some more to see if it was some weird prank, like eating Tide Pods. I'm still not sure if it's real or not, but my response is that apparently you can take a sport combat ruleset to absolute absurdity, but (if the ratings are anything to go by) you can't make people watch.
Unfortunately, it's real. LOL.
I have heard about it but haven't watched it.

I am not really violently opposed to it.
Man, I can't watch it. I saw a few clips that popped up on reddit and was appalled.
Sooo dumb.
We know about CTE, lets invent a sport where avoiding getting you head hit is literally unavailable.
And where you are disqualified if you do literally anything to lessen the impact of the blow including shrugging your shoulders, flinching, moving your head in any way (e.g., tucking your chin). It's only a matter of time before folks start croaking.
 
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Steve

Steve

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I'm not really opposed to it either. I don't really get it, but I don't have to get it. I've got a number of friends in the kink/BDSM community and some of them are into some things I don't get either. If two consenting adults are into taking turns slapping each other on TV and other people are in to watching it, I don't have a problem with it, I just don't want to be slapped nor slap the average person in this scenario.
I'll think about the kink angle. In my mind, if/when someone dies in a contest like this, it's less like a boxing match and more like a duel. If you point a gun at someone and they point one at you and you both try to shoot the other... you can't be surprised when someone is grievously injured or killed. Whether both parties are consenting or not, it's still manslaughter.

Just my opinion.
 

MetalBoar

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I'll think about the kink angle. In my mind, if/when someone dies in a contest like this, it's less like a boxing match and more like a duel. If you point a gun at someone and they point one at you and you both try to shoot the other... you can't be surprised when someone is grievously injured or killed. Whether both parties are consenting or not, it's still manslaughter.

Just my opinion.
Yeah, I think that it's a grey area and an edge case. As you say, safety seems to be intentionally compromised in this instance, or at least, largely ignored, where for example, in the kink scene safety is something that responsible people try to maximize. I generally feel that consenting adults should be allowed to do whatever they want to do with each other, but slap competitions definitely fall into an area that I don't think should be encouraged. If the promoters haven't done a good job with making sure it's fully informed consent, then they ought to be liable for serious injury/death.

EDIT: I also meant to add that, while I'm not really interested in watching it, and I'm definitely not interested in participating in it, my interest or lack thereof, in and of itself, should not impact whether others can do so. As you say, there are some limits to consent, so yes, even with fully informed consent legal repercussions may be appropriate for the promoters and the participant responsible for a serious injury. I tend to err on the side of letting consenting adults do as they will, but even I don't think that should be universally true no matter how extreme.
 
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Dirty Dog

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These videos are starting to pop up on social media... Dana White's newest brain child, the Slap competition. Has anyone else seen these? If so, what do you think?
I'll say right now that it appears to be among the stupidest, most dangerous, and irresponsible things I've ever seen.
I've seen these. And I agree with you. It's the sort of thing someone thinks "hey, this would be cool to try" when they're drunk. I just can't imagine why they'd think it was a good idea after they sobered up.
 

Cynik75

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In 2021 polish strongman Artur Walczak died after being slapped. He felt in coma for two weeks and died in hospital.
Here is video:
The last part (0:52) is his friend crying after the visit in hospital.
 
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Gyakuto

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Are there any ‘sports’ where opponents attempt to occlude one another’s cerebral blood flow/respiratory air flow to produce unconsciousness? Or perhaps try to punch and kick one another in the head in attempt to cause sufficient damage to produce unconsciousness? Are there arts that claim to train their disciples to ‘kill’ with one punch?

If persons engage in these activities of their own free will, they should be prepared for the potential dire consequences and, in the U.K., have private health care so as not to burden our stretched NHS.
 

Buka

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These videos are starting to pop up on social media... Dana White's newest brain child, the Slap competition. Has anyone else seen these? If so, what do you think?
I'll say right now that it appears to be among the stupidest, most dangerous, and irresponsible things I've ever seen.
We used to do the slap competition all the time. But we were in the ninth grade at the time. It was fun....because we were stupid kids and anything grownups thought stupid, we were all over.

But it sucked then and I'll bet it still sucks now.
 

O'Malley

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I'm not really opposed to it either. I don't really get it, but I don't have to get it. I've got a number of friends in the kink/BDSM community and some of them are into some things I don't get either. If two consenting adults are into taking turns slapping each other on TV and other people are in to watching it, I don't have a problem with it, I just don't want to be slapped nor slap the average person in this scenario.
The kink stuff is a bad comparison. Those people may do weird stuff but they have safety measures in place so that it's generally harmless. Also, it stays in the realm of one's intimacy.

The slap competition is more problematic for a lot of reasons. Firstly, the game is designed to maximise brain damage by almost turning it into a win condition and prohibiting contestants from reducing it. Secondly, an entertainment corporation tries to make tons of bucks off people getting that brain damage on TV so it's not only about two consenting adults anymore, but when **** inevitably hits the fan it will be hard to hold anyone accountable. And thirdly, the fact that the competition is transmitted on TV may push kids to try it out on their developing skulls and brains (and the barrier to entry is much lower than combat sports).
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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Same as buka..did similar dumb things as a kid. But they were all dumb, and should not be done. And we shouldn't have a show glorifying those dumb games.
 

Ivan

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These videos are starting to pop up on social media... Dana White's newest brain child, the Slap competition. Has anyone else seen these? If so, what do you think?
I'll say right now that it appears to be among the stupidest, most dangerous, and irresponsible things I've ever seen.
CTE central. There's no reason to actually "train" in it because there isn't any tactics, technique, or anything you're actually comparing other than your natural toughness. It's not like you can train yourself to have a strong chin apart from some neck training maybe - you either have it or you don't. Some might say you need to put force into your slaps, hit the right place etc, but it doesn't warrant a whole new sport. Let's not even get into the prize money - 2k per fight at most, but since this is Dana White's new business idea, I am not surprised he is yet again underpaying competitors.

I am just waiting until he squeezes ring card girls in there somehow so that he can continue justifying their outrageous wages in comparison to the people risking brain damage to keep his sludge of shitty combat sports business ideas running.
 

NewKenpoDude40

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This is dumb and uninteresting. I love combat sports and believe it to be honorable when two people get into a ring/cage, and agree to both fight and defend themselves within the ruleset going as hard as the rules allowed. This is nothing but a ridiculous spectacle. I have never watched one match and do not intend to.
 

Gyakuto

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Is there an argument for letting these idiotic people participate in these idiotic activities in the spirit of the ‘Darwin Awards’?
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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Is there an argument for letting these idiotic people participate in these idiotic activities in the spirit of the ‘Darwin Awards’?
If they participated in it on their own, in a backyard or something, sure. When it's being advertised and made to look cool for kids, at that point it's affecting more than themselves to me.
 

Gyakuto

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But if a kid thinks it looks cool and then participates….chlorine in their gene pool! 😉😀
 

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