The Lingerie Fighting Championships event held in Clearwater, Florida, on Oct. 11 was not your ordinary, scantily clad women’s wrestling show.
It also featured the debut of Power Spank, in which similarly dressed women slap each other on their backsides.
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Power Spank is billed as a parody of Power Slap, the fighting league founded and co-owned by Dana White, the UFC’s CEO. White and the Power Slap legal team do not appear amused.
Late last month, Power Slap attorneys sent a cease and desist letter to the LFC and demanded it stop using the Power Spank name.
LFC, based in Las Vegas, is expected to disclose the matter publicly Tuesday to comply with law governing public companies. The company provided MMA Junkie with details on Monday.
'Will not be bullied'
Power Slap, which debuted in January 2023, is a slap fighting league in which defenseless competitors slap each other in the face – oftentimes so hard that the person slapped gets knocked unconscious.
Power Spank reportedly results in reddened and sore skin but no knockouts.
Now the Power Slappers are at odds with the Power Spankers.
"We respect Power Slap and its founders, but we will not be bullied into abandoning protected speech," Shaun Donnelly, CEO of LFC, said in a statement. “We will defend our right, and the right of every American, to free speech, and if that takes us to the Supreme Court, we are prepared to go.”
Attempts by USA TODAY Sports to reach the Supreme Court’s public information office after hours on Monday were unsuccessful.
Efforts to reach UFC's White for comment were unsuccessful. Lenee Breckenridge, Senior VP of Communications for the UFC, said White is traveling for the next few days, "so I don't have him available, unfortunately."
Parody and pain
Since taking over the UFC, White has been involved in multiple legal matters, such as class action suits over allegedly suppressed pay for fighters and a lawsuit challenging pay-per-view prices charged by ESPN for UFC events.
But this is the first legal action involving White and Power Slap.
The relationship between Power Spank and Power Slap apparently goes beyond parody.
An LFC athlete competed in a Power Slap match and wound up hospitalized, according to a press release issued by LFC on Sept. 30.
"We watched one of our fighters get seriously hurt (at Power Slap) …" Donnelly said. “Power Spank is our answer: same energy, same theatrics, none of the brain damage. And let’s be honest, a spank is a lot more fun to watch than a slap.”
Among the competitive spankers is Bella Madisyn, the reigning Booty Camp Champ in the LFC, according to the company. Madisyn reportedly has trained in kickboxing and taekwondo before rounding out her combat skills with MMA, according to LFC.
But it was an exotic dancer known as “Bebe” who took home the $500 grand prize when the eight-woman tournament featuring MMA fighters, exotic dancers and adult film stars came to an end at Power Spank’s debut.
This isn't a gimmick
In 2024, White said Power Slap was worth $450 million and since then the estimated figure has soared to $750 million. Donnelly has not yet publicly announced the estimated value of Power Spank.
The two entities appear to be in vastly different weight classes, but the owner of Power Spank seemed undeterred by the cease and desist letter.
"This isn't a gimmick to us – it's a statement," Donnelly said in the release. "Combat sports can be bold and outrageous without being reckless. Power Spank proves you can still pack a house without packing an ambulance."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White's Power Slap takes action against butt-slapping Power Spank
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