Josh Barnett has publicly criticized Jake Hager’s decision to compete in Power Slap, the slap-fighting promotion backed by UFC president Dana White, saying the risk is not worth it for the former WWE and AEW star.
Hager signed with Power Slap earlier this year and made his promotional debut on April 17. He returned to action in September for his third bout under the Power Slap banner, facing Johnny Magna. That fight ended in a referee stoppage after Hager suffered an eye injury during the exchange, a result that has become the central point of Barnett’s criticism.
Barnett, a former UFC heavyweight competitor and the founder of the Bloodsport combat-wrestling brand, did not hold back when asked about Hager’s involvement in slap fighting. According to Fightful, Barnett said of Hager’s Power Slap venture, “It’s just not worth it.” Bodyslam reported that Barnett expanded on that sentiment, arguing there is “so much more you could do with your life and career” than subject oneself to the kind of risk slap fighting carries.
Hager spent the first eleven years of his professional wrestling career with WWE before his release in March of 2017. He went on to work the independent circuit before later becoming a notable figure in AEW. His move into Power Slap represents a departure from that wrestling background into a combat sport format that has drawn scrutiny from critics within the fighting and wrestling communities over the physical toll of repeated slaps to the head.
Barnett’s own background gives his comments added weight. As a veteran of mixed martial arts competition and the architect of Bloodsport, a promotion built around stiff, realistic in-ring combat, Barnett has long positioned himself as an authority on which physical risks in combat sports are justified and which are not. His pointed assessment of Hager’s Power Slap run frames the eye injury from the Johnny Magna bout as evidence that the format carries dangers he considers avoidable given the alternatives available to a performer with Hager’s wrestling experience.
Neither Hager nor Power Slap has issued a public response to Barnett’s comments as of this report. There is no indication from the available reporting of any further scheduled Power Slap appearance for Hager following the stoppage loss to Johnny Magna.
