Ariel Helwani hits back at Dana White for saying that the media has turned Power Slap League into a success

UFC president Dana White has been widely criticized in the media over his latest venture, Power Slap League. Meanwhile, White has thanked the media for the success of Power Slap, which he says is at par with the NBA and NFL in terms of viewership.

However, numbers tell a different story, with the show recently having wrapped up its eight-week run on TBS as the 106th-rated show on cable for the night. Power Slap League was also provided with a strong lead-in by AEW Wrestling, which had 858,000 viewers in the final week. However, White's show only managed to retain 220,000 viewers.

Ariel Helwani slammed the UFC president for trying to build a false narrative of Power Slap's success. According to the Canadian journalist, media discussions have not made the controversial show successful in any manner. Helwani recently said on The MMA Hour:

"I follow the UFC. I don't follow this nonsense... He did the classic 'Thank you to the media for making this such a success.' I mean if keeping a fifth of the AEW audience and hovering around the Mendoza line on the viewership ratings, if that's a success to you and you know it ain't, then okay, you're welcome. But it ain't a success. Us talking about it has not turned this into a success."

Catch Helwani's comments below:

Power Slap has also recently been accused of lying about their social media engagement.

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When Dana White thanked the media for the success of Power Slap

Slap fighting has been widely criticized for being a skill-less sport where competitors merely try to prove their toughness by absorbing lethal head strikes. Dana White ventured into it regardless, citing the necessity and his ability to regulate the sport.

When the UFC president came under fire for promoting the controversial sport, he accused the media of "selective outrage," citing a slap-fighting event organized by Logan Paul and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Also, sarcastically thanking the media for hyping up the sport, White said ahead of the Power Slap 1 finale:

"The media has been incredible through this thing... Selective outrage, that's what's happened here at Power Slap... Logan Paul and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a slap event unregulated, no medicals, no nothing... Nobody said 'boo'... We do the right thing, and everybody is outraged... You guys have helped me build this thing into a monster."

Catch Dana White's comments below: