TBS will air Power Slap: Road To The Title, a reality series based around a new sports league from Dana White, despite UFC President being caught on camera slapping his wife over the holidays.
The Warner Bros. Discovery network, however, has pushed the premiere of the series back a week following the incident.
Deadline understands that TBS will air the first episode on January 18. It was originally scheduled to air on January 11. It has been replaced in the schedule with a repeat on Young Sheldon.
There had been reports earlier today that the series had been shelved after it was removed from the January 11 schedule.
Power Slap is a new sports league created by White, Lorenzo Fertitta and Craig Piligian, the Pilgrim Media founder who runs Lionsgate’s unscripted division. It is focused on competitive open-handed striking.
The league was created in partnership with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Endeavor. It features competitors from across the globe competing on the ultimate stage to showcase their power, technique and resolve.
The eight-part series, which is produced by Pilgrim Media Group, follows athletes competing to earn a spot in the cast house, the first Power Slap rankings, in future Power Slap matches and world recognition.
Over the holidays, White was seen hitting his wife Anne across the face after she hit him at a Cabo San Lucas nightclub in Mexico. He apologized in a statement after the video was leaked to TMZ and described it as a “horrible” incident.
“There was a lot of alcohol involved, but that’s no excuse,” White told TMZ, which first published the footage. “You’ve heard me say for years, there’s never ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman, and now here I am on TMZ talking about it.”
Yesterday, Deadline posited the conundrum facing Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who has taken a tough stance on the bad behavior of stars such as Kanye West and Mel Gibson but has not commented publicly on the incident, which involves one of Endeavor’s main business interests. Endeavor now has a 100 percent controlling interest over UFC.
White has been UFC president since 2001 when Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta purchased the company.
