Who knew getting aggressively slapped in the face could be a health risk? (Most people.)
Last year, a VICE reporter attended a SlapFight Championship event in Missouri, where he explored the controversial and burgeoning world of competitive slap fighting. In intense matches, participants take turns delivering powerful open-handed slaps to each other’s faces. There’s no protective gear, and you’re not even allowed to duck or avoid blows to your head/face. The fight ends when a participant is knocked out or the judges declare a winner.
Sounds uh… dangerous. Despite obvious safety concerns, the athletes and organizers were clearly trying hard to establish slap fighting as a legitimate sport. Right now, it’s most popular in the US. (Are we surprised?) However, other countries like the UK are beginning to pick it up as well.
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Increasingly, doctors are expressing concern. A new research letter in JAMA Surgery is straightforwardly titled “Video Analysis of Concussion Among Slap Fighting Athletes.” And they’re not just worried about small scratches or black eyes—they’re worried about brain damage.
In the first academic study on professional slap fighting, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analyzed 333 slaps for visible signs of concussion. They said more than half of the slap sequences resulted in participants showing visible signs of concussion, with nearly 80% of fighters demonstrating at least one sign of concussion during their matches.
Back in 2021, a Polish slap fighter named Artur Walczak suffered a brain bleed following a match, during which he was knocked unconscious. He later ended up dying from multiple organ failure that doctors linked to his brain injury.
In 2023, a retired slap fighter named Kortney Olson spoke about the time her eyes rolled back from the force of a strike.
“After I regained consciousness, I stood back up to get to the table and reset, but lost consciousness again and wound up doing a forward roll,” she said in an interview, as reported by the BBC. “I don’t have any recollection of doing a forward roll.”
The JAMA Surgery warning letter noted that many competitors experienced impaired movement or blank stares after being struck. Some even had trouble getting back up after being knocked down.
Are the risks worth it? Considering these athletes are just slapping each other in the face for sport, I’m going to say not really.
