UFC should have promoted kickboxing over slap fighting

Joe Rogan would have liked to see UFC CEO Dana White invest in kickboxing over slap fighting.

White officially launched slap fighting league Power Slap in late 2022, which started off with events at the UFC Apex, and has recently expanded to locations such as Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. White went as far as saying Power Slap would become bigger than the UFC.

Upon the news of White’s involvement with slap fighting, Rogan admitted it’s not his cup of tea. He still stands by that opinion, and thinks White would have been better off going into kickboxing.

“I think the UFC f*cked up when they went with slap fighting,” Rogan said on his Fight Companion for UFC Fight Night 255. “I’ve been telling them forever, ‘You guys should get into kickboxing.’ If you only like standup fights, it’s not like the old days of kickboxing where they were boring. The knockouts are f*cking crazy.

“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.”

Glory Kickboxing has helped produced two of the biggest stars in UFC history in the form of former UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. More kickboxers, such as Artem Vakhitov, have recently followed suit in their transition to MMA.

The UFC recently invested in jiu-jitsu after signing five-time IBJJF world champion Mikey Musumeci to an exclusive deal with matches streaming on UFC Fight Pass. Adding onto the slew of ventures the UFC CEO is involved in, White and TKO partnered with chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, to launch a new boxing promotion.