Power Slap 22: “I know you like it” at Belgrade weigh-in
Hungary's Sheena Bathory kissed rival Abi Montes on the lips during the face-off in a Belgrade hotel, and security had to pull Vasily Kamotsky, all 166 kilograms of him, away from his opponent.
Hungarian competitor Sheena Bathory kissed her rival Abi Montes on the lips during the face-off that followed the official weigh-in at a hotel in central Belgrade on Wednesday, July 29, and security had to step between the two women when the stage turned messy. Montes was furious and wanted to answer with her hands on the spot.
“I know you like it,” Bathory told her as they were being pulled apart.
The two close the Power Slap 22 card, the slap-fighting show that runs at Belgrade Arena on Thursday evening. It is the promotion’s first event in Europe. Until now Power Slap had staged shows only in the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the company was founded by Dana White, president of the UFC.
Nobody fell off the card. Every fighter who registered made weight and was cleared to compete, so all 12 bouts stay intact.
The 166-kilogram Russian and the second stage incident
The kiss was not the only scene of the morning. Russian competitor Vasily Kamotsky, known as Dumpling, stepped on the scale wrapped in a flag. The reading was 166 kilograms.
When he squared up with opponent David Zalewski, the two nearly came to blows in front of the cameras. Security stepped in there as well and cut the face-off short. Kamotsky is one of the most recognisable names on the card and the reason a good part of the audience knows what Power Slap is in the first place.
Which Serbian competitors are on the card?
Five local fighters are in: Nadja Milijancevic, Jana Rajkovic, Nikica Vujicic, Jovan Zdelar and Djordje Tomic. Their matchups:
- Nikica Vujicic vs Vim Ciric
- Paulin Macias vs Jana Rajkovic
- Zoran Djodj vs Jovan Zdelar
- Djordje Tomic vs Adnan Alic
- Nadja Milijancevic vs Robin Vereschuk
The rest of the card is Zakir Naimanbayev vs Ryan Kenny, Darren Godfrey vs Daniyar Toktarov, Luis Robinson vs Pavol Horelican, Peter Truhlik vs Jayden Faanana Schulz and Damien Dibbell vs Dorian Perez. Kamotsky and Zalewski meet in the super heavyweight class, Bathory and Montes in the women’s.
Two things the previews get wrong
We went through the previews published on Wednesday morning and they clash on two points.
The first is the start time. Some outlets list 6 p.m., others 7 p.m., while the promotion’s own event listing gives a third figure, 8 p.m. local time. Nobody disputes the day or the venue, Thursday, July 30 at Belgrade Arena. For everything else, the time printed on the ticket is the one that counts.
The second is the list of Serbian fighters, which appears as five, four or six depending on where you look. The confusion comes from Vim Ciric, listed in some previews as a local entrant even though the card has him as Nikica Vujicic’s opponent. Take him out and five names are left actually representing Serbia.
Why Belgrade got the first European show
Power Slap is a sport without defence. Competitors take turns striking with an open palm, and whoever is receiving stands still and takes it. That is why the weigh-in and the face-off are part of the product here as much as the bout itself, which is also why a scene like Wednesday’s ends up in the promotion rather than in an incident report.
The date is no accident. Belgrade hosts a UFC event on Saturday, August 1, so Power Slap 22 lands two days earlier, in a week when foreign fighters and reporters are already in town for the UFC. The city gets two fight shows from the same orbit inside 48 hours, and the smaller one goes first.
If Thursday brings a repeat of what the scale produced, security will be busy before the first slap lands.
