Joe Rogan thinks the UFC made an enormous mistake by entering into the Energy Slap enterprise as an alternative of kickboxing.
Dana White and Co. formally launched Energy Slap in 2022, beginning with a collection of occasions inside The APEX in Las Vegas. Since then, the slap-fighting promotion has made appearances in each Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
In fact, not everyone seems to be a fan of the slap preventing, together with former UFC referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy, who dubbed the “sport” as nothing greater than “sanctioned brain trauma.” Joe Rogan tends to agree with that evaluation, although he was a bit extra cautious together with his phrases, merely stating that Energy Slap was not his cup of tea.
Not too long ago, Rogan shared his frustration over the UFC’s resolution to launch Energy Slap as an alternative of kickstarting its personal kickboxing promotion.
“I think the UFC f*cked up when they went with slap fighting,” Rogan stated on a current Combat Companion podcast. “I’ve been telling them eternally, ‘You guys should get into kickboxing.’ In the event you solely like standup fights, it’s not just like the previous days of kickboxing the place they have been boring. The knockouts are f*cking loopy.
“Kickboxing with MMA gloves in a cage would be giant. Just have a striking-only segment of the UFC. Glory’s got some elite fighters. I watch Glory all the time. It’s f*cking exciting, but nobody’s watching it. Nobody knows who these people are.”
Dana White set to launch boxing promotion in 2025
Whereas the UFC could don’t have any plans to launch a kickboxing promotion, Dana White is leaping headfirst into the world of boxing.
In March, Dana White introduced that he was teaming with Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the Basic Leisure Authority in Saudi Arabia, to launch a brand-new boxing group. The yet-to-be-named promotion will function “a highly structured system to develop new talent from around the world,” in addition to entry for all boxers to the UFC Efficiency Institutes in Las Vegas, Mexico Metropolis, and Shanghai, and “TKO’s production, media, and promotional expertise.”
