Dana White’s ‘Power Slap’ debut pushed back one week

In the wake of video emerging of UFC president Dana White and his wife exchanging slaps during an argument on New Year’s Eve, the debut of White’s new Power Slap league has been delayed by a week.

Originally scheduled to debut after AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, January 11th, the show will now start on Wednesday, January 18th according to a TBS representative who spoke to the New York Post.

That came after the Post reported TBS is “is having serious discussions about pulling the plug” altogether. 

Earlier in the day, Jeremy Botter reported the show was no longer on any internal programming schedules, all ad spots had been dropped, and “the death of the deal…is basically just paperwork at this point.”

As of now, the show is set for an eight-episode run.

TMZ posted video earlier this week of White and his wife, Anne, having a physical altercation on New Year’s Eve at a nightclub where she slapped him and he retaliated with two slaps of his own. 

He gave an interview to TMZ where he said he had no excuse and acknowledged his past stance on how men should never lay hands on women. He claimed this was the first time anything like this had happened between them and that things were good between he and his wife. Their focus, he said, was on their three children in the wake of the incident.

ESPN, a major broadcast partner of UFC, and Endeavor, UFC’s parent company, have yet to comment about the incident.

White, former UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and other involved partners are hoping the league, which sees two people slap each other until one is unable to continue, would take off with a reality show in the same way The Ultimate Fighter pushed the UFC into mainstream pop culture.

The league is regulated by the Nevada Athletic Commission.