Dan Hardy Trashes Power Slap As ‘CTE For Money’

The former UFC title contender and analyst isn’t a fan of Power Slap, nor the way it’s being promoted through UFC’s social media channels.

Dan Hardy has been making his money in mixed martial arts (MMA) off his reputation as a sharp analytical mind in the sport. That’s landed him job at UFC broadcast partner, BT Sport, which “The Outlaw” has kept despite being fired from the promotion in 2021 over an alleged argument with another employee.

Hardy still has his tendrils deep in the sport, though.

His wife Veronica just made her successful UFC debut with him in her corner at UFC 286. Professional Fighters League (PFL) also just announced he’s the new Head of Fighter Operations for its European division. And he regularly appears on numerous YouTube shows and podcasts, including the Triggernometry show where he absolutely took Dana White’s Power Slap League to the woodshed.

Power Slap just wrapped its first season and White promises the controversial show will return for a second season, possibly in Abu Dhabi where sanctioning officials are a little less squeamish about potential deaths and injury. While many people have expressed their visceral dislike of the “sport” where contestants allow themselves to be hit until someone goes down, Hardy laid out a thoughtful explanation for the reason(s) Power Slap sucks.

“It’s dangerous. It’s very, very dangerous,” Hardy said. “Now I went through the years where the UFC, where mixed martial arts wasn’t accepted. So I had a lot of people telling me I shouldn’t be doing what I was doing because they didn’t understand it. So I’m trying not to project my opinions onto Power Slap as a thing in itself.

“My main issue with it is that it’s so closely tied to the UFC,” he continued. “We fought for years and years — when I fought GSP, it was 2010, not that long ago. Most of my interview questions were about, ‘MMA, why should it be a legitimate sport?’ I had people throwing the words ‘cock fighting’ at me and stuff. I’m like, I am a professional athlete, I train all day every day, I am working on my skill set, I’m working on my physical conditioning, my sports psychology. I don’t drink, I’m dedicated with my diet. And you’re treating me like I’m a thug. It’s not fair, because I’m dedicated to a sport.

“But then, so much time’s passed,” Hardy continued. “I guess it reflects in a way how strong the UFC brand is that now they can stick Power Slap on the side of it and don’t feel like they are doing damage to the sport. If you would have done that in 2010, it would have completely invalidated the UFC as a brand. Because people were still on the fence about it. But now, again, I feel like Dana feels like he’s untouchable. Because they are ramming the Power Slap League down our throats.

“I have unfollowed Dana and the UFC on Instagram cause I’m sick of seeing popping up,” Hardy said. “I go on Fight Pass because I’m researching fights and it’s there on the front page. Basically two guys taking free swings at one another. It’s CTE for money. They’re trading brain cells for cash. And they’re only offering you a couple thousand dollars to do it anyway. It’s not like it’s going to change your life. It’ll change your life for the negative. You’ll be eating soup for the rest of your life doing that kind of stuff.

“It misses the point of combat sports,” he concluded. “It’s not a sport because there’s a not a competitiveness to it. It’s the person that can get up after taking full power slaps. That, in my eyes, is ridiculous. The art of martial arts is the attack and the defense.”

PFL’s European tournament kicks off on March 25, 2023, in Newcastle, England, with Hardy at the analyst’s desk. Dana White’s Power Slap League, meanwhile, has no return date yet, but will reportedly move from TBS to YouTube alternative, Rumble, for season two.