A concussion knowledgeable has urged fight sport officers to ban brutal energy slapping occasions in Australia, however she fears teen boys could already be copying the doubtless lethal slaps in faculties across the nation.
Footage of the Power Slap League, the heavily-criticised brainchild of UFC mogul Dana White, has gone viral in latest weeks with graphic movies showcasing vicious knockouts and confronting strikes to the pinnacle.
Dr Kerry Peek, a head trauma researcher on the University of Sydney, stated any try to legitimise energy slapping was “ludicrous”.
“There is absolutely every real possibility that someone could die,” Peek instructed 9news.com.au, whereas analysing the distinctive risks of energy slapping.
There is a 30-second timer to ship the slap, and one other 30 seconds for restoration. Victory is set by knockout, TKO or factors.
Violent slap movies have proven women and men crumbling to the ground, with some fighters left twitching on the bottom in an obvious state of extreme concussion.
Peek stated she’s going to use these movies in her college concussion lectures this yr as a result of it so clearly illustrates to college students “in real time what can happen if you get hit around the head”.
There was no approach, she stated, occasions ought to ever be held in Australia.
“The issue with power slap is they’re told to stand still, so there’s nothing that the person being slapped can do to protect themselves,” Peek stated.
“If it was martial arts there are defensive moves, and in boxing there’s defensive moves so you can lessen the risk of taking that full force.
“You cannot in energy slap.”
Peek said it could take just one slap for someone to suffer a serious brain injury.
So far, it appears no power slapping events have been held in Australia, and it’s unclear if regulators would allow a promoter to hold a slap fight card.
A spokesperson from Combat Sports Authority, the NSW government agency which approves combat sport permits, said it would assess any application for a power slap event as it would for any combat sport.
An event must meet minimum safety standards, the spokesperson said.
“There have by no means been any requests for permits in relation to slapping contests, and due to this fact they’ve by no means been thought of by the authority.”
But, regardless of whether or not an event is held in Australia, the genie may already be out of the bottle, Peek said.
Fringe slapping events have been around for years in the US and eastern Europe, but White’s high-profile involvement changes the landscape significantly.
Sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, White’s Power Slap League began screening last month on US broadcaster TBS.
“I feel the injury is finished as quickly as any nation regulates it, it would not should be within the nation the place you reside,” Peek said.
“Is this one thing that we’ll see in faculties the place youngsters are then having their very own slapping competitions?”
While announcing the league’s launch, White said he was going to take “the game of slap combating … to an entire new degree”.
“The manufacturing degree will likely be by way of the roof,” he said.
“Everything about this factor goes to the following degree.”
‘He may never be the same’
Since its TV debut in January, the league has attracted serious backlash, including attacks from those involved in other combat sports.
“He could by no means be the identical,” neurologist Chris Nowinski said of one slap contestant, whose body seemed to lock up in a “fencing posture” after being knocked out cold.
“Pure exploitation,” Nowinski, a former wrestler, wrote on Twitter, declaring that White “ought to be ashamed” of himself for backing the event.
Boxing promoter Sam Jones called White’s show “ridiculous and harmful”, and former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub blasted the league as the “stupidest shit” he’s ever seen.
Schaub said the league does serious harm to mixed martial arts.
Power Slap League did not respond when asked for comment.
After the first episode of the show aired in January, White revealed his organisation is working on improving the league’s safety.
“Everyone is in a studying course of proper now,” White posted on Instagram, in an exchange with a fan who was asking him about safety protocols.
During launch, White claimed that moving the league from the fringes to under his stewardship would immediately make contests safer.
But at a time when experts are understanding the effects on the brain of repeatedly heading a football and other forms of contact sports, Peek said the rise of White’s power slapping events was nothing short of bizarre.
“It appears loopy to use folks’s potential long-term danger and mind well being for leisure, and it actually is just to smack folks across the head,” she said.
“You might argue the identical about rugby or American soccer … however the sole goal of rugby and soccer is to not knock somebody out.”
Source: www.9news.com.au
